Between Life and Death
by Wicked Little
Summary: Vanessa thought her troubles would be over once she moved in with her aunt and cousin, but they only seemed to become worse. She only began to question the lines between life and death when she became involved with the recent murders, when a face from her past showed up, and when she learned a secret from the man next door.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this doesn't follow Fright Night 2011's plot line exactly, but is based loosely around it. And please, give me feedback and constructive criticism and anything you might want to see added as I write the story. The movie took place within about two or three days, and I plan on my story taking place within a few months. And I'm kinda iffy on if I should put romance in... Jerry is one hot number, but he's a vampire that likes to eat people, not fall in love with them... IDK LOL. Any mistakes, please point them out! Thanks in advance!**

I was in an airport, awkwardly standing there next to the gift shop with my three bags as I looked around for my aunt. There was a lot of movement going on around me, so it was hard to concentrate on finding her face. The last time I had seen her was about seven years ago, so I didn't know how she looked now. I mean, I know she didn't get a face transplant or something, but she could have died her hair, or cut it, or got a nose job, which I doubt she did. Basically, I was looking for a woman in her early forties with short blonde hair.

Then an idea popped in my head, an idea that I should have already thought of instead of stupidly standing in the middle of an airport. I pulled out my cellphone and called her.

She answered with, "hello? Vanessa? Where are you?"

"Hi aunt Jane, I'm by the gift shop," I replied, and then looked over my shoulder into the little store.

"Oh! I see you," and then she hung up the phone. The next thing I knew I saw a woman who was obviously my aunt approach me. I had expected her to still have her short blonde hair, but it seemed she decided to grow it out.

Jane tightly hugged me, and I hesitantly hugged her back. It's not like I didn't want to hug her, but it had been so long since I had. To put it bluntly, it felt like I was hugging a random stranger who looked like my aunt.

"It's a good thing your father sends me your school pictures! Otherwise I wouldn't have a clue what you look like," she smiled. "By the way, how is your father?"

"Dave's good," I answered. "He's looking for a job nearby so we can move here."

"Yeah, he told me that on the phone," my aunt Jane commented.

They had been talking on the phone? Talking about what? Obviously about us moving here, but what else? _I hope Dave didn't tell her what happened..._ My concerns were put to rest when she touched my scarf that was wrapped around my neck and asked, "what's this for?"

"I like scarves," I simply responded. I picked up the end of the scarf that was hanging in front of me and looked down at it. The design was dark blue with purple flowers flowing down it. The fabric was silk, and felt cold as I smoothed my fingers through it.

My aunt made a humming sound and then said, "well, let's go. It takes about two hours to get to my house from here, so we'll be there by five." Then she grabbed one of my three bags and started walking, wheeling it behind her and, following her example, I did the same.

I was in her van sitting in the passenger seat and we had been listening to the radio for the last hour and a half. I was singing along to the lyrics in my head when I heard my aunt say something.

"What?" I asked, looking at her. I had missed what she had said.

"I said you look like your mom," my aunt repeated. "She had the same big brown eyes and black hair that you do. Except her hair was short, not long like yours. You get your nose from my and your father's side of the family, though, but you still look a lot like your mom."

"Oh," I smiled. My mom died seven years ago, but I still remember that she was beautiful from what my memories and photos supplied.

Our conversation ended when my aunt answered her phone. I went back to listening the radio and stared at the sky as it darkened. My window was rolled down, and we were on the highway, so the van was going pretty fast which made the wind rush past my face in a pleasant way. I let my right hand out of the window a little, catching the wind on my palm. I couldn't feel the coldness of the wind, though, because both of my hands had leather gloves on.

"Hey, honey," my aunt's voice caught my attention, "I just got a call from one of my clients, and they need to meet with me as soon as we get home. I'm sorry."

"It's okay," I said.

"Charley will be there, so he can let you in if the door's locked," she continued, "and I told him to order pizza before we got home, so it should be there when you get in."

I nodded my head in acknowledgment. She continued to drive and we made it to my aunt's house at five, just like she had said. I grabbed my three bags out of the van, and my aunt waved bye as she drove back down the street to go meet with her client. I yawned, tired as I was and stretched my arms and back. Where was I going to sleep? On the couch? _I hope not... couches suck._

I brought my three bags to the front door with me, and attempted to open the door. It was locked. I narrowed my eyes at the door handle in annoyance before knocking. I knocked a few times, but Charley didn't answer. _Maybe he fell asleep? _Then I took out my phone to call him. He didn't answer.

"Charley, are you serious?" I snapped at him even though he wasn't there. I picked my three bags up all at once, which actually hurt my arms because they were heavy, and brought them around to the back of the house, having to go through the little pathway between the fences. I opened the fence gate and stepped through, dropping my bags with relief. I felt myself yawning again as I closed the fence gate. Then I spotted a bench that was sitting against my aunt's house, and decided it would make a good spot to nap on.

I walked over and laid down on it, placing my gloved hands under my head to act as a pillow and closed my eyes. I yawned again before my thoughts drifted off and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I immediately noticed something odd. My left hand was missing its glove, and my palm stung. Upon closer inspection, it looked like two holes were in my palm, like someone stuck a needle in each. I narrowed my eyes. _What the hell?_

I took my attention off my palm and decided to study my bare hand. The scars and burn marks on my palm and fingers brought on unpleasant memories. Quickly, I looked around for my leather glove, but couldn't find it. With a sigh, I shoved my left hand into my jacket pocket, and took out my phone with my right hand, checking the time. It was six, which meant I had been napping for about an hour, and Charley still wasn't home. _Charley, what the hell, man._

I decided to call my aunt. When she answered, I told her Charley hadn't been home for an hour.

"Why didn't you call me sooner?" Jane asked angrily. I knew the anger wasn't directed at me, so I took no offense. It was directed at Charley.

"I fell asleep on the bench in the back of your house," I explained. I was going to mention my palm, but didn't, not wanting to explain my burns and scars.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," she told me before she hung up. I wandered out to the front of the house and sat down on the porch, waiting. It was then that I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head, I saw a man with dark hair, like my own, crouched down, working. I studied him for a moment, taking in his fit form. Then he looked up. I smiled in embarrassment at being caught, feeling my face heat up, and he returned a smirk. Despite my embarrassment, I was happy to learn he had a handsome face to go along with his body.

When I saw headlights through the dark, I looked and saw Jane's van drive down the road and then up the driveway. I stood from the porch as she got out of the car, and she was about to head over to me, but when she saw the dark-haired man she turned to face him. I walked over to stand next to her.

"Oh, hi!" My aunt greeted enthusiastically. I guess my aunt really liked people. "You must be our new neighbor. I'm Jane, this is my niece, Vanessa."

She introduced us to him and he stood up from his work. "Jerry," he supplied his own name, and took his left glove off because it was covered with dirt. He held his left hand out to shake my aunt's hand, which she did, and then held it out for me. I was just about to take my left hand out of my pocket when I realized my leather glove wasn't on. So instead, I hesitantly smiled at him again.

When he let his hand fall to his side with a blank face, I thought I had offended him, but then he gave a charming smile as if to say, 'no offense taken.'

Then the front door opened behind us, and when I turned to look I saw Charley. He caught my eye and I glared at him, repeating my earlier words to myself:_ Charley, what the hell, man._

It looked like my aunt was going to yell at him, but then she remembered Jerry.

"Jerry, this is my son, Charley," my aunt said once Charley had come to stand next to us.

They shook hands and Jerry commented on something about Charley's shoes. I ignored the rest of their conversation and went inside the house now that the door had been unlocked. I made my way to the back door and brought my three bags inside, putting them on the side of the couch where I assumed I was going to be sleeping. I heard the front door open and heard my aunt ask Charley what happened.

"I fell asleep," was his reply.

"Charley," I commented with a hint of anger, "I was outside for an hour, man. And I called you like five times."

He gave a shrug. His indifference made me so angry that I had to walk away.

"Did you order the pizza?" Jane asked, and when Charley's answer was no she told him to call the pizza place. "Vanessa, you can have Charley's bed tonight," my aunt added.

I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Charley was a boy, so who the hell knew what he did up in his room. _Well, I have an idea, but that's disgusting._

"It's alright. I'll just take the couch," I said.

Then the pizza came about half an hour later, we ate dinner, and we talked. My anger towards Charley had disappeared, and we talked about our lives the last few years we hadn't seen each other. I left a few things out, but said my relationship with Dave had improved greatly. Charley said he had made a few new friends, and I saw my aunt make a small frown. Then my aunt said she was still a Realtor and laughed a little at how her life hadn't changed much.

After we were done eating, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands because the pizza was sort of greasy and shut the door. I removed my left hand from its pocket and turned the sink on, using the soap bottle that was next to the sink handles. I was reminded of the little holes on my palm when the soap made them sting. I brushed my fingers over the wounds, thinking that some nerves must have been exposed because they were very sensitive. Nonetheless, I cleaned it like I should have earlier and placed band-aids on each.

Then we watched a movie together until ten when it was over. My aunt said goodnight and went upstairs to go to bed. Charley and myself sat on the couch, and I turned to face him.

"So, you're a junior, right?" I questioned.

"Yeah," he answered, and then asked his own question, "you're a senior, right? How come you're moving here if you're graduating in a few months?"

I closed my eyes for a moment before opening them again, "I'm not graduating. I'm failing. So Dave thought he would save me the embarrassment and move here."

"Oh," was all that was said. Then a few moments later he added, "we'll be seniors together. That's cool."

"Yeah," I agreed half-heartedly. Then Charley got up from the couch and headed up the stairs while I went to the bathroom to change into my pajamas. Then I laid down on the couch with the pillow and blanket my aunt had brought from upstairs and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Like last time, if you see any mistakes, please point them out! And please review, it lets me know that I'm writing something people actually want to read.**

I woke up due to an obnoxious sound: Charley pounding his feet on the way down the stairs. Tiredly, I scowled into my pillow, cuddled further into my blankets, and attempted to go back to sleep. This was an impossible task to accomplish because Charley was running all over the house. When I couldn't take anymore, I ripped myself from my blanket and pillow and snarled:

"Oh my _God_, Charley. _What_ are you _doing_?"

"I can't find my essay!" he said, panicked. I watched as he ran his fingers through his hair in a stressful manner as he rushed around the living-room and kitchen, flipping couch cushions on the floor.

"Just go to school. An essay one day late isn't a big deal," I mumbled, though if it was loud enough for him to hear I didn't know because he continued to make a mess. It was times like those that I appreciated the fact that I was an only child. I didn't have to deal with waking up and getting mad if someone was taking too long in the bathroom, I didn't have to deal with anyone touching my things, or touching my food in the fridge, or taking the remote when I was watching TV. I laid my head back down on the pillow and thought, _I think those things are going to change._

Eventually, Charley gave up and left the house and I was able to go back to sleep for a few more hours until ten. I stretched when I got up and went to the bathroom, and then pulled out some eggs from the fridge to make myself breakfast. After that, I took a shower and decided to walk around the neighborhood. I kept my scarf on, but didn't bother to put my leather glove on because one of them was still missing, so I just shoved my hands inside my jacket pockets.

I still didn't have a key, so I had to keep the door unlocked when I went out unless I wanted to be stuck outside again. Then I started walking down the road at a normal and easy pace, looking around at the houses. A lot of them looked new, but I knew that wasn't true because I had lived in this neighborhood seven years ago with my mother. We actually lived right next door to my aunt and cousin, which happened to be where Jerry was living.

It took me an hour to walk around my old neighborhood and become re-acquainted with it. No cars were in their driveways because it was almost noon and everyone was at work, except for about five or six houses which still had cars in their driveways. I stopped at what I thought to be Adam's house. I had been friends with Adam before my mom died and before I moved to live with Dave. The car was still in the driveway, so I decided to knock on the door and say hello to his parents if they were home. I liked Adam's parents when I was a kid because they always invited me over for dinner.

I was about to knock again when a little dog came up to me and whined. I immediately recognized him as Apple, Adam's dog. Granted, he looked alot older than when he was a puppy seven years ago. He whined at me again and barked. Maybe he was locked out. _What is it with this neighborhood and locking people out?__  
_

"C'mere, Apple," I whispered gently. I smiled when he came to sit by my feet. I knocked on the door one last time before deciding to go into the back of the house. When I saw Apple go through the doggy door and poke his head out, it seemed like he was saying, 'are you coming with me or what?'

I sighed and bent down. I looked over the doggy door, determining that I should probably be able to fit through, but there was always the chance of not being able to. _Only one way to find out, I suppose... _I crawled through the little door with no problem, except when my foot got caught momentarily. I pulled my foot free and stood up.

The realization of what I just did dawned on me._ I just broke into someone's house. And for what? Because a dog whined at me? _Worried, I ran my scarred fingers through my hair. Maybe they were sleeping like Charley! Didn't I learn anything from last night? _I guess not._

When I saw Apple sitting by his bowls, I knew he wanted food and water. So, I filled one bowl up with water from the sink, but I had to look around for the dog food. I found it a few seconds later in the closet. While Apple was busy eating his food, very quickly might I add, I wandered through the house. The layout was still the same, obviously, but there were new pictures hanging on the wall and the living-room had been rearranged. I saw a door that was partially open, and I think it was his sister's room. I walked towards it and inched the door open.

The first thing I saw was blood, and then came the body on the floor, flesh ripped apart like some wild animal had attacked it. I was forced to kneel down, my hands shaking, and, against my will, bile came out of my throat due to the sight and smell. I wiped my mouth clean with my silk scarf and, with fumbling fingers, grabbed my phone from my pocket and dialed 911.

I waited outside with Apple by my side as a bunch of people came. Police cars came, ambulances, a fire-truck, and a few others I couldn't identify. When they went inside to confirm the dead body, I didn't go with them. Then they came back out, and I heard them say there were three more bodies upstairs. _Adam and his parents..._

I stared at my feet, absently stroking Apple's fur. A lot of messed up stuff had happened to me in the last year, but nothing as bad as this. I could handle death, sort of. It happened to everybody. Murder, though, was different. It's normal to die because of an illness or old age, but dying because someone else killed you was not normal.

A man's voice spoke to me, "hey, I'm Detective Ross. You're Vanessa, right? The one who made the call?"

"Yeah," I said, and tore my eyes from the ground to look up, putting my scarred hands inside my pockets. Detective Ross was looking at me intently with green eyes, and he seemed determined to ask me a bunch of questions. When he asked me those questions, I answered each and everyone of them honestly. The one about why I was there made me nervous even though I had no reason to be.

"Well, his dog was whining at me and I felt bad... So, I went inside," was my answer, which was an honest answer. It probably seemed strange and suspicious to him, but it was the truth. Then my mind whispered to me, _this isn't the time to be embarrassed about how you got into the house_. I silently agreed.

He wrote down my name, number, and address on a notepad and gave me a card with his own name and number on it. Then I was allowed to leave, but before I did leave, I asked to go get a few things from inside Adam's house, like dog food and a few dog toys, because I was going to bring Apple with me. I was allowed to and soon I was on my way, Apple walking next to me with his leash in my hand.

When I got back to my aunt's house, it was one thirty. I had been at Adam's house, answering any questions the police asked me for about two and a half hours. I sighed and took the leash off of Apple and let him walk around and sniff everything. As for myself, I flopped down on the couch, cuddling into the blanket and pillow that were still there. It had been a long day considering it was only late afternoon.

I think I fell asleep because the next thing I knew Charley was poking my head, trying to wake me up.

"Yeah?" I grumbled, closing my eyes.

"Why is Adam's dog here?" he questioned.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up, looking my cousin in the eye, "Charley, I think you should sit down."

He looked like he was going to ask why, but I shushed him and told him to sit down again. I was thinking about how I was going to tell him. I couldn't just come out and say, 'Adam's dead,' could I? I thought it would be insensitive. Like I said earlier, I had been friends with Adam when we were younger, and even though I moved to live with Dave, I still felt we had our friendship intact. Finding his sister earlier had been terrible, and the sight of her torn flesh was something I knew I wouldn't forget. I couldn't even imagine how I would feel if I had found Adam's body instead.

I took a deep breath and exhaled, "Adam's dead."

He gave me a weird look and probably thought I was joking. "Funny, Vanessa. Did his family go on vacation or something? He wasn't in school today."

"No, I'm being serious, Charley. Adam's dead," I repeated. The expression on his face changed from weird to blank, and then slowly scrunched up, as if he was confused.

"What? I saw him yesterday and he was perfectly fine. Are you sure it was him?" Charley asked, looking at me with a neutral face.

"Yes, Charley," I answered slowly, "it was him. So is his family."

Charley was quiet for a moment, but then he seemed to brush it off. Suddenly, I was angry. How could he just brush off the fact that his best friend was dead? What kind of friend does that? Even I felt like shit and I hadn't seen Adam for several years. Instead of yelling at Charley, I took a moment to breathe, and I found that my thoughts cleared. Brushing it off could just be the way he dealt with stressful things. Unfortunately, he would have to face it sooner or later.

Just I was about to stand up, I heard Charley's voice, "is Apple here because you want to keep him?"

I thought about it for a moment. It hadn't crossed my mind earlier. I had just wanted to bring him with me because his family was gone. A moment later I answered my cousin with:

"Yeah. He probably would have gone to the pound if I didn't bring him with me."

I paused for a moment and then added, "do you think your mom will let me keep him?"

"I don't see why not," he responded.

Then I checked my phone and decided to take Apple for a walk since it was a little past six. Before I left, I asked Charley if he had any gloves I could wear, saying that my hands got cold easily. He said yes and a minute later I was wearing a new pair of gloves. On the way out, I saw Jerry stepping out of his truck, and when he looked my way, gave me a half-smile that almost seemed like a smirk.

Then he started to approach me and my mind went momentarily blank. Why was he walking towards me? _Maybe he wants to say hi or something... _As he got closer, my body tensed up and it didn't help that Apple had started to growl and whine. I saw Jerry glance at Apple, and a hint of a sneer made its way on his face before it disappeared.

As Jerry came to a stop in front of me, I couldn't help the feeling of apprehension knotting itself in my stomach. I thought this was odd because I hadn't felt like this yesterday. Maybe it was because my aunt had been standing next to me? I didn't know, but the tension that I was feeling worsened when Jerry chuckled, as if sensing the distress he was causing me gave him some kind of joy.

"You look a little sick," Jerry commented, giving something of a grin, showing his teeth. My confusion must have shown on my face because his grin widened.

"I'll be seeing you around, Vanessa," he said, and chuckled as he walked away. To say that I wasn't freaked out would be a lie.


	3. Chapter 3

My aunt Jane was home by the time I was done walking Apple around for a walk. I asked her how work was and she answered with:

"It went well, thank-you for asking," she said, and then added, "I usually get home by five thirty or six, not seven."

"That's fine," I replied. Then I asked her about my sleeping arrangements because I didn't want to be stuck sleeping on the couch until Dave bought a house, and who knew how long that would take.

"Well, we could blow up the air mattress and set it up in the basement..." then my aunt laughed, "but I know you, you don't like basements." She spoke the truth. I hated basements. When I was younger, I fell down the stairs in the basement and ended up spraining my ankle. I remember very vividly that I was in so much pain that I couldn't move. Not only that, but I was stuck in the basement for three hours in the dark until my mom got home.

"Well, that was more than a few years ago," I reminded her, "I could try it for one night to see if I like it or not." Ten minutes later, the air mattress was set up. I laid myself down and moved around, and a moment later I deemed it comfortable to sleep on.

"Oh, honey, what's on your scarf?" my aunt questioned, and my experience in Adam's house the few hours before came to the forefront of my mind. I had wiped my mouth with my scarf. It would have to get cleaned, or at least I hoped it would clean. The scarf was silk and I didn't know if it stained easily.

"I threw up earlier," I answered her. Should I bring up Adam and his family's death? She would most likely find out through the news, and I figured it would be better if she heard it coming from me. I knew she wasn't friends with Adam personally, but she had been sort if friends with his parents from what I recall.

"Hey, Jane, can I talk to you about something?" I was still sitting on the air mattress when she sat down on it, shifting her body to face me and waiting for me to continue.

"I found Adam earlier... he was dead, so I called the police."

She covered her mouth momentarily, but then brought her hands down to hold my gloved ones. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I said, looking away from her, "I'm fine." _At least I think I am...__  
_

Seven years is a long time to be away from someone, maybe that was why I didn't feel overly upset about his death?

"Oh, I wonder how Charley's doing..." my aunt pondered, "well, maybe I should give him some space for now."

I nodded my head. "That seems like a good idea."

We were quiet for a few moments, but then my aunt changed the subject, sort of. "How come the police didn't call me?"

"I'm eighteen, so they don't have to call you," I explained. I was actually close to turning nineteen in three months.

"I didn't know you were eighteen already." Then Jane gave me a sly smile, "you're legal!"

My jaw dropped. "AUNT JANE!"

"What? It's true!" she laughed, and then got somewhat serious, "alright, I'm going to make hotdogs for dinner. They'll be done in ten minutes."

I shook my head with a small grin on my face and followed my aunt up the stairs into the kitchen. Ten minutes later, my aunt, Charley and myself were eating hotdogs and macaroni, talking about everything except the deaths of Adam and his family. Then I went to bed on my air mattress, Apple laying by my feet as I slept.

When I woke up, it was dark, and it took me a few seconds to realize I was in the basement. I knew it must have been late at night, or really early in the morning because I could see no light through the small windows near the tops of the walls. I checked my phone and it said 3:04. I decided to get up from my fake bed to go get a glass of water in the kitchen because my throat was dry. Once I got my glass, I stepped into the living room, looking through the window at the moon. At first glance, it looked full, but I had to look at it a few seconds more for me to notice that it actually wasn't.

From the window, I saw headlights coming from down the road. I silently wondered why someone would be out this late, but then remembered that Las Vegas was only an hour or two away. It turned out to be a truck, and it looked rather familiar. I found out why when it turned into Jerry's driveway. I recalled his odd behavior from yesterday, and just thinking about it made my stomach tighten. Maybe he had been in a bad mood?

I saw him open the door of his truck and step onto the ground, and that was when I saw him more clearly. There was a thick trail of blood starting at his lips, and from there, lead down to his neck and shirt. My glass slipped from my hand, and shattered when it made contact with the floor. Jerry's head snapped to look at the window I was standing in front of. I felt like he was looking at me, but that couldn't have been possible because the living room lights weren't on. And besides, there was no way he could have heard the glass break.

_What should I do?_ On one hand, Jerry was covered in blood. This most likely meant that he was injured. On the other hand, Jerry made me uncomfortable. I wanted to go back down to the basement and pretend I hadn't seen anything. I took a deep breath and let it out, already knowing what I was going to do. And it was damn stupid, too.

I carefully walked to the front door, picking my way through the shards of glass on the floor and opened the door. As I timidly made my way over to Jerry, he stared at me. In the dark, it looked like his eyes were black, and that only increased my apprehension.

"Are... are you hurt? You're covered in blood..." I muttered, looking him in the eye for a moment before I was forced to look away to due to my own fear.

He remained silent, and when I looked up at him again, he locked his eyes with mine. I felt myself tremble. Something in my mind told me to run, and that was what I did. Quickly, turned around and sprinted to my front door, shoving it open and slamming it shut once I was inside. When I dared to take a peak out of the living room window, Jerry was still standing there, and from my spot, I thought he was snarling.

A chill swept through my body, making me shiver, and I shut the blinds to remove him from my sight. A sharp pain shot through my body, and I looked down at my foot, realizing that I had stepped on a piece of broken glass.

"Shit," I swore, releasing a shudder of a breath.

I limped to the bathroom, trying to avoid putting any pressure on the cut. I set the toilet seat down and sat on it, pulling my foot up to inspect the gash. Fortunately, it wasn't deep, and I easily removed the small piece of glass that was embedded in my foot. I cleaned the cut, clenching my teeth because it stung. Then I put a band-aid on it, which reminded me of the two band-aids on my hand. I removed those ones and eyed my palm. The two marks were healing quite nicely, and I decided they no longer needed band-aids.

I walked over to the mirror and stared at my reflection. My eyes wandered to my neck and to the scar that was there. I usually wrapped my scarf around my neck to prevent people from seeing it, and it was the same for the gloves that I wore over my hands. My fingers brushed over my neck, remembering how I had gotten it. Distantly, I hoped Jerry hadn't seen either my hands or my neck, because the less people who knew about it, the better.

After a few moments of reliving unpleasant memories, I flicked the lights off in the bathroom and was about to head into the basement when the pain of the cut on my foot reminded me that there was pieces of glass in the living room. I tiredly sighed and went into the kitchen, gathering the cleaning supplies, and then cleared the floor of any glass shards. Happy that I was finally done, I put the cleaning supplies back and headed down to the basement, practically falling onto the air mattress and dozing off.

In the morning, I took a shower, then brought Apple out for a walk. I was extremely grateful that Jerry wasn't outside because our last two encounters had been anything but normal. And why the hell had there been blood on him? Torn flesh flashed through my mind, and I frowned. Jerry was creepy, but he wasn't a killer. Besides, maybe he had a really bad bloody nose or something.

I finished walking Apple around the neighborhood, and once I was back inside, I sat down on the couch. I thought about what I was going to do that day, and thought about going to the movies after school with Charley. Then came to my mind the fact that I had no money and needed a job. I decided to ask my aunt about any jobs once she got home at five thirty. Then I got up and went into the basement, looking through my three bags for my sketch book and pencils. Once I found them, I headed back upstairs, intent on drawing something. My mind shifted through different things I should draw before it settled on Jerry. I frowned at that, but nonetheless began to draw.

I sketched for one uninterrupted hour, and when I was done, I studied my work. I had drawn Jerry from last night, when his eyes were dark, and blood was clinging to his skin. I raised my eyebrows, surprised that I had drawn this. Sometimes when I draw, I become so focused that I don't even realize what I'm drawing.

I traced over his face, feeling the rough paper beneath the tip of my finger. Despite his recent behavior, I still thought Jerry was an extremely handsome man. Beautiful black hair, dark eyes, straight nose, and a strong chin, not to mention his muscled arms and back. If I had to guess his age, I would assume he was between thirty five and forty.

A few knocks on the door brought me out of my thoughts and I stood up to open the door, placing my sketchbook on the couch. On the way to the door, I put my gloves and scarf back on, and when I answered the door, there was a boy with glasses.

"Yeah?" I asked, not knowing why he was there.

"I'm looking for Charley. What are you doing in his house?"

"I'm his cousin Vanessa..." I trailed off, my eyebrows coming together. "Charley's not here."

"Well, tell him Ed came by," he told me, and then walked off.

I closed the door and went back to sketching my handsome neighbor in my sketch book. About two hours later at four, I heard the door open and looked up to see Charley and two people I didn't recognize. Quickly, I shut my sketch book and shoved it under the couch cushions.

"Hey, Vanessa," Charley greeted.

"Hi," I said back, "someone named Ed came by earlier."

Charley made a loud groan as the two boys that were with him laughed.

"That kid's a fuckin' loser, man," the shorter one commented, shaking his head with a mean grin.

I frowned when I realized these two must have been the new friends Charley had made, and Ed must have been friends with him before. Had he stopped being friends with Adam, also? I had initially thought that Charley just brushed his death off because it was just the way he dealt with things, but now I was thinking that he just didn't care.

"Hey, I'm Mark," the shorter one said, introducing himself. I saw him not so subtly look me over, and I scowled. He just grinned like it didn't matter.

"Name's Ben," the one with hair that went to his shoulders said. He sounded high.

"What's that?" Mark asked, and then came closer, pulling my sketchbook out from under the couch cushion. My hand suddenly snapped out, and I snatched it from his fingers. He gave me a weird look.

"Sorry," I glared, "but it's personal stuff."

He showed his palms with a thin smile before walking away. He strolled around the living room, making his way into the kitchen before coming back into the living room, "nice house, Brewster."

"Thanks," Charley nodded his head.

I rolled my eyes and stood up, grabbing my sketchbook, intent on going somewhere more quiet. I went through back door and stepped out into the backyard, Apple following behind me. Then I took a seat on the wooden bench, curling my feet beneath me as I opened my sketchbook and began to sketch again. I was outside for about an hour and a half, and the sun was beginning to set, showing off its colors. I stopped drawing for a moment to watch the sky as it gradually darkened.

I was enjoying the view when a deep voice interrupted me.

"I'm flattered you think of me so much."

My head jerked to the side to see Jerry. He was leaning over the fence, leering at me. It was then that I remembered that my sketchbook was open in my lap.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I would like to thank Ralai, Ashley, and Lara F for reviewing! :D Thank you! And if you see any mistakes, please point them out!**

I shut my sketchbook as quick as I could, embarrassed that he had seen my drawings of him. Then Apple began to whine and growl like he had done before, so I shushed him and made him go inside the house. It was quiet after that. I remained silent, and Jerry just stared, giving me one of those smirks. It was all very uncomfortable and awkward to me. I was about to head inside to escape Jerry's presence when he spoke.

"I want to talk."

I narrowed my eyes, and opened my mouth to comment, but he continued to speak.

"My recent behavior towards you hasn't been exactly..." he paused for a moment, the smirk leaving his face, "...normal."

_Really? _my mind sarcastically replied. He let out a short laugh, and I knew my thoughts must have shown on my face. Nonetheless, I stayed on my seat on the bench, and Jerry continued to lean over the fence.

"Why was there blood all over you?" I questioned, referring to last night.

"Got in a bar fight. I broke the fucker's nose and must've gotten the blood on me," the raven haired man explained, "sorry if I... alarmed you." Then one side of his lips went up, and his smirk returned. My eyes narrowed again, and my pride was insulted that he assumed I was frightened of him.

"If there's anything for you to be sorry about," I told him, "then it's my foot." His eyebrows came together in confusion, obviously not knowing what I was talking about.

"I stepped on a piece of glass because of you," I elaborated, then proceeded to take my sandal off and show him the bottom of my foot where the band-aid was.

"Then I'm sorry about your foot," he said, showing off a sly smile.

I gave a small smile back, and put my sandal back on. While doing so, I spotted that my gloves weren't on. _I must have taken them off while I was drawing..._

I glanced up at Jerry to see if he noticed, and when he looked into my eyes, I knew he had. My first reaction was to hide my scarred hands in my pockets, but I didn't get the chance because Jerry's voice made me freeze.

"Don't," he commanded, his eyes staring, and I did as he said, not knowing why. Though I desperately wanted to cover them, my hands remained out of my pockets. He then motioned for me to come closer, and I hesitantly got up from my seat on the bench. I opened the fence gate and stepped through so that I was standing directly in front of Jerry.

He looked down at me, and I became aware of how much taller and more built he was. I was only about five feet and four inches, and he must have been at least five feet and ten or eleven inches. He waited for me to hold out my hands, and I reluctantly did so. When he grabbed my hands with his own, the first thing I noticed was that they were _cold. _Goosebumps raced up my hands and arms because of the temperature difference.

He turned my hands over so that they were palms up, and he smoothed a thumb over the two puncture wounds that hadn't yet completely healed. He inhaled deeply at the same time more goosebumps assaulted my skin. Something in my head told me that this felt wrong, like he wasn't just inspecting my wounds, but was reliving something. I went to pull my hands back, but he tightened his grip. I snapped my eyes to look at his, and I swore that his eyes were _black_. Then instantly they weren't, and I figured it must have been my imagination.

"Who gave these to you?" he questioned. I knew he wasn't talking about the two puncture marks, but I didn't want to tell him. This was personal, not something you shared on a whim just because some stranger asked. It wasn't show and tell.

I remained silent, but hissed in pain when he tightened his grip again, almost painfully.

"Someone I used to know," I answered, gritting my teeth. How was it I was so easily answering his questions? Maybe I really wanted to talk about what had happened? I hadn't really talked to anyone about it, not even Dave. He had tried a few times, but I ended the conversations before they had even begun. If I didn't share it with Dave, my own father, why would I share it with Jerry?

"What about the one on your throat?" My eyes were drawn back to his chilled fingers when I felt them brush over my hands. Somehow, watching him do this was easier than looking him in the eyes.

I inhaled deeply and let out a low breath, "they tried to kill me."

I watched as Jerry continued to trace his fingers over the scars on my hand, and it was absolutely mesmerizing. Suddenly, all I could think about _him, _and how close he was. He dominated all of my senses. His smell was alluring, his touch enticing, and his very presence before me invaded my thoughts.

"So abused..." Jerry whispered lowly, and I found myself nodding gently, entranced. Still in a dream-like state, I glanced up at Jerry. He wore a blank expression on his face as his eyes stared at me. I stared back, captivated. Suddenly, he gave me one of his smile-smirks and released my hands from his grasp.

"It was nice talking to you, Vanessa," he spoke, and at that moment, all I could think about was that I loved how he pronounced my name. It was like he was _tasting_ it. I blushed. Then he turned around and walked back the way he came, between the two fences. I stood where I was for a few moments before I came to my senses, and I was left to wonder, _what the hell just happened?_

When I finally went back inside, I was grateful to find that Mark and Ben were gone. Then Apple came up to me and sniffed me intently, like he was making sure I wasn't hurt. I bent down to reassure him by petting his fur coat.

"Hi, Vanessa," my aunt's voice greeted. I stood back up and sent her a smile, and remembered that I was going to ask her about any jobs nearby. I didn't planning on sitting around for five months until I went back to school.

"Hey," I said back, and then added, "do you know if there are any jobs available around here?"

"Um," she stopped for a moment, "I'm not sure. You could drop by the grocery store or something. I honestly don't know." Then she made dinner, and after that I took Apple out for his walk. I was disappointed to find that Jerry was not outside.

The next day I ended up sleeping in rather late because I had stayed up past midnight, watching movies in the living room because I was bored and wasn't tired. By the time I got out of bed and headed upstairs from the basement to take a shower and get dressed, it was already one in the afternoon. I again took Apple for a walk because the last time he had been outside was over twelve hours ago. I spotted a park while on my walk and decided I would bring Apple there next time.

An hour or so rolled by and there was a knock at the door. I answered it, hoping it might be Jerry, but it was the kid with glasses from yesterday. I was pretty sure his name was Ed.

"Charley's not here," I stated, assuming he was going to ask about Charley again.

"I didn't come here for Charley. I came here about Adam's dog," he told me, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Apple?" I asked, a confused expression making its way onto my face, "what about him?"

"I want him," Ed demanded. The confusion melted from my features and my eyebrows came together and my eyes narrowed.

He saw my face and continued, "Charley hasn't been friends with me and Adam for a few months now, so I don't see why he got Apple and I didn't."

"Oh," I said simply, but then my thoughts came together, "well, I was friends with Adam, too. Kind of."

"Kind of?" he repeated, "I was _definitely_ friends with Adam, not kind of. I want Apple."

I just stood there. Did this kid really expect me to give up Apple? It wasn't just because he had been Adam's dog, but I had become attached to the little bugger over the last two or so days. Then again, the last time Apple had seen me was a long time ago, so I was still sort of a stranger. This kid had been friends with Adam, so Apple probably saw him everyday. After a moment I realized I was being selfish.

"Alright..." I said after a moment, and then called Apple to me. He showed up not a second later, wagging his tail. Ed bent down and pet Apple on the head, to which Apple responded by licking him on the cheek.

"There, take him," I mumbled bitterly. Ed looked up, and he must have sensed I was upset because he had an apologetic look on his face.

"Sorry," he said, "but I think Apple would be better with me." I shrugged my shoulders, just wanting him to leave, which he did a moment later. I shut the door when they left, and sat on the couch, folding my legs underneath me. I turned the TV on and stared at the screen, not really watching what was on.

I did that for about an hour when the front door opened and in came Charley, Mark, and Ben. Did my aunt even know they were coming over? I assumed they left before she got home yesterday. I didn't really care, I wasn't interested in getting Charley in trouble or anything. I considered that a positive thing about growing up with no siblings.

When they came into the living room, I shifted so that I was sitting on the very edge of the couch because I didn't want them to sit on either side of me.

"Hey, Vanessa," my cousin called me, "wanna go to the movies? I'll pay for you."

I was about to answer no when he interrupted me, "besides, you look bored."

That was true. I _was_ bored. So I said yes.

"Cool. We're leaving in ten minutes," Charley told me. He looked around, like he was looking for something, and then turned to me, "where's Apple?"

"Ed took him," I explained. I was still in a bad mood because of that.

"Oh," Charley simply said, "I'm sorry, Vanessa."

I waved it off and got up, intent on getting some shoes on instead of wearing my sandals. Ten minutes after that, we left in Mark's car. Charley sat in the back seat with me, while Mark drove and Ben sat in the passenger seat. We were at the movie theatre in a few minutes because Charley's neighborhood wasn't that far out from the main part of town. All three of the boys wanted to watch the horror movie that was currently out and I wanted to watch the comedy. Guess who won that argument?

One of the main reasons I wanted to avoid watching the horror movie was because I did _not_ like being scared. I had seen the commercials and reviews for this particular movie alot. It was supposed to be really good, and very scary. One commercial showed a theatre full of people who watched it for the first time and some people jumped straight up out of their seat and some were crying. From what I had gathered, it was a pretty hardcore horror movie.

When the lights dimmed, I had to inhale and exhale deeply a few times because my heart was beating faster than usual. I figured it was the anticipation that was causing this. About halfway through the film, everyone screamed, but there was one person who _shrieked_. I laughed nervously, just glad I was holding my own.

Then there was a tense moment, where everyone knew there was going to be another scare. I was so tense and focused on the movie, that when a cold hand landed on my shoulder, I screeched and jumped out of my seat into the isle. With my chest heaving, my gaze followed the hand, up the arm and to the face of the person that was holding my shoulder. It was Jerry. who was smirking like a shark, showing his teeth.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you Ralai, Lara F and twisteddarklynoon for reviewing! I love hearing what you have to say :D**

"Scared?" Jerry leered at me, and tugged me into a seat next to him. Had he been sitting behind me the whole time? I doubted it. He probably saw me from somewhere else in the theatre and decided to have some fun.

I fell none too gracefully into the seat, and had to adjust myself so I was more comfortable. I was still breathing rather rapidly, so I focused on calming myself down, trying to momentarily ignore the attractive man that sat beside me. After a few moments, I found that my hands were still shaking, so I tightened them into fists, thinking that perhaps it would stop them from trembling. It didn't. So instead, I tightly grabbed the arm rests of my chair and turned my head to face Jerry.

There was something trickling down the side of his mouth, and I tried to make out what it was, but the theatre room was too dark. I pointed it out to him, to which he raised his hand and wiped it off on his fingers, and sucked them clean. I blushed, and a moment later he caught my eyes and smirked.

"Chocolate," he explained simply.

I nodded my head stupidly, and shifted my focus back to the movie. This was more difficult than one would think, because Jerry had his attention on me the whole time. I glanced at him a few times, wondering why, but each time we made eye contact I was forced to look away. I felt nervous, I knew that much. I didn't know if his staring made me uncomfortable or if I was _glad_ to have his attention on me. It was probably both.

Then the movie ended, and people started to stand up, including Jerry and myself. The lights gradually turned on, and everyone began to file out. Then someone screamed and pointed to the back of the theatre. A woman, probably in her early twenties, was leaning back against the wall in her chair. There was blood all over her.

I closed my eyes and turned away.

Everyone that had been in that theatre room was forced to stay, and within a few minutes the police arrived. The police began to question people, asking if they had seen or heard anything. Most of the answers were no, and that nothing had been seen. I found this very odd. There had been at least fifty people in that room, how come no one remembered anything out of the ordinary?

When it was my turn to be questioned, I came face to face with Detective Ross. He recognized me as the girl from the few days before, and spoke to me gently, as if I would break out crying from seeing another dead body mutilated. I didn't. The sight just made me quiet, and made me think how easy it was for someone's life to slip away.

After Detective Ross said I could leave, I looked around for Charley and his two friends. I couldn't find them. I was about to call them, but when my gloved hands felt for my phone, I found that it was gone, and that I had left it at home. I sighed, and my frustration only increased when my stomach rumbled, ordering me to feed it.

"Got left behind?" I jerked when I heard Jerry's familiar voice close to my right ear. I had to step back.

"Yeah..." I mumbled, and folded my arms across my chest.

Jerry gave a smirk and signaled for me to follow him. My bad mood eased up when I realized that he must be offering me a ride home. I jogged to catch up to him, and went to the other side of his truck where the passenger seat was. I opened the door, and was about to step in completely when I got an uneasy feeling. I glanced up, and Jerry was staring at me again, like he always did.

"Scared?" he taunted, repeating his words from earlier.

That was all it took for me to narrow my eyes and pull myself, almost violently, into the passenger seat and slam the door shut. A moment later, we were pulling out of the theatre parking lot and driving back to our neighborhood. I became alarmed when he went down a road I wasn't familiar with. I looked at him, my eyes questioning.

"I'm hungry," he answered, voice rough, and gave a sly smile. I instantly thought of the bloodied woman. My mind became filled with all sorts of things, like murder. I tried to calm myself down. Someone had already tried to kill me once, what was the chance of someone trying to kill me again? Especially Jerry? Besides, we had our little talk the other day, didn't we? I should be past these uneasy feelings.

I let out a relieved sigh when Jerry pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant. I followed his lead when he got out of the truck and headed into the restaurant. We sat down at an unoccupied table. It was a booth seat, and was meant for four people. He was seated on one booth and myself on the opposite one. This felt so weird.

I sat in my seat, thinking how awkward-ish it felt, while Jerry picked up a menu. From behind the menu, I saw his eyes slowly look at me.

"Aren't you hungry?" he questioned. Maybe he heard my stomach grumbling earlier.

"I have no money," I voiced, remembering that Charley had to pay for my movie ticket. Yeah, I definitely needed a job.

"I'm paying," Jerry replied, eyes returning to his menu, "don't worry about it."

I picked up the menu, and skimmed it for the cheapest thing on the menu that was actually a meal. I was hungry, yes, but I didn't want to use someone else's money if they weren't family or a friend. Was Jerry a friend? I honestly had no idea what to make of him. The first day, he was nice, then later that day and the next day he was a complete creeper that made me want to pee my pants. Then we had our talk... thing, and ever since he'd been normal, but a weird normal. Did that make any sense?

The waitress came and I just ordered fries and water, while Jerry ordered a beer and steak. This didn't surprise me. He seemed like a meat-lover.

Our food came rather quickly, and then we were eating. It was quiet, at least until Jerry decided to talk.

"Who gave you your scars?" He asked, chewing a piece of steak. I noticed he didn't use any kind of sauce.

Any kind of decent mood that I might have been in after seeing that woman dead earlier was utterly gone.

"I already told you," I mumbled, and continued to eat my fries. The sounds of knives and forks stopped, and my eyes darted up to see Jerry staring at me. _Again_.

"No, you didn't," he said firmly. I was suddenly angry.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" I hissed at him, quietly. I didn't want to draw people's attention. "You aren't my dad, or my brother, or my boyfriend, so who the fuck do you think you are? _You_ are just a stranger. _You_ have _no right_ to ask me anything. _Anything_." Then I stood up, and walked out the door, just barely refraining from stomping my feet.

Once I was outside, I instantly realized that I had no ride. But then again, I was seriously pissed and didn't care. So, I started my walk back home on foot. Before I left the restaurant's parking lot, I intentionally hit Jerry's truck with my shoe, hoping to leave a scratch or something. It did, and it lessened my anger.

It took me the first few minutes to get into the familiar part of town, the one I had known as kid. Everything seemed different at night, especially since I had been away for several years living with Dave. It was fifteen minutes before the buildings in the town started to clear out and an open road appeared. Well, maybe it wasn't a true open road, because I could see my neighborhood down the road a ways. Still, I figured it would take me maybe half an hour before I was there.

My mind drifted to Charley. _How_ could he have forgotten me? I understand maybe he was freaked out, and then left, but when he got home he should have realized I wasn't there and gone back to the theatre to get me. And then the dead woman. She had been the second dead person I had seen in my few days here. Maybe it was a bad decision to move here. Dave and myself had heard about the few murders that had happened, but I never realized that I would be _affected_ by them. I never _expected_ to see two dead bodies. It wasn't too late to call Dave and tell him I didn't want to live here. He hadn't found a job here yet, nor a house. I hadn't even started school, so it wasn't like I made any new friends I would miss.

The only people I would miss would be my aunt Jane and my cousin Charley. Then I thought about my neighbor, Jerry. Would I miss him if I moved again? I had only met him a few days ago, and it seemed like he had wormed his way into my life. I don't know how, or _why_ even, but he did. And him sitting next to me at the theatre, and bringing me to the restaurant like we were friends, or _something_. Now that I thought about it, it made me uncomfortable. My relationship with men were always weird. Besides, Jerry was basically a stranger. What _relationship_ did we have?

My attractive neighbor confused me. One day he was nice, the next creepy, and then the next I was absolutely mesmerized by him. And then he was back to creepy-ish. He was all over the place, and I didn't know what to think of him. And again, who did he think he was to ask me about my scars? They were personal, and if my aunt and cousin didn't know about them, then why should he? Even Dave hadn't known about them until I was in the hospital, being treated for the bloody gash that was on my neck. It had been going on for months until then. I kept a secret that I should have told someone and it nearly cost me my life. I knew that if I was ever in that situation again, I wouldn't keep it a secret.

I guessed that another ten minutes must have passed, though I didn't know for sure. Time always seemed to go slower when you wanted to know what time it was. At least, that was how I felt. I thought about my aunt Jane, and wondered what she was doing. Was she freaking out at Charley because he forgot me? Would she freak out at _me_ for not calling? I didn't have my cellphone on me, but I probably could have borrowed someone else's. I didn't want her to worry and think something bad happened. Like me getting murdered, just like all the other murders. Even if she did think that, I was pretty sure she couldn't call it in before twenty-four hours had passed. I'd say the movie got over nearly two and a half hours ago, so there was still alot of time left.

About five minutes had passed when I heard a vehicle coming up from behind me and stop. I panicked momentarily, but when I turned around, I discovered it was a truck. A truck that had a scratch on it, with a somewhat annoyed Jerry stepping out. I thought he might apologize, but he didn't seem the type. I knew I wouldn't apologize because I had nothing to be sorry for in the first place. Well, maybe kicking the truck hadn't been necessary, but I wasn't going to say sorry about that either. Then I thought he might yell at me, but he kept his voice in control when he asked:

"Need a ride?"

I had to admit, I was surprised he asked me, considering I had bitched at him earlier. I only considered his offer for a second.

"Nope," I answered, the word coming out more bitter than I thought it would. It was probably my pride speaking.

He gave me what I thought was a sneer, and said with a rough voice, "fine, suit yourself."

Then he got back in his truck and drove down the road. I continued to walk, and though my feet were beginning to get tired, my pride wasn't battered. Twenty minutes later I was walking through the front door, my aunt and cousin still up and expecting me. Charley apologized many times over and my aunt told me how worried she was. Twenty minutes after that, we were all calm. Tired from my long walk, I trudged down the stairs and fell onto the air mattress. I distantly thought about how I missed Apple not laying near me before I closed my eyes and my mind drifted off.

**A/N: Ralai, Jerry was on a date! Sort of xD**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So sorry for the long wait D: I was being lazy...**

**Thanks to Lara F, twisteddarklynoon, Ralai, taytay, shalmarrose, Queen Serenity, and Catherine for reviewing :3  
**

**Please, if you see any mistakes, grammar or otherwise, please point them out!  
**

The next day, Ed came over and brought Apple with him. He had asked if I wanted to walk Apple with him, and I assumed he felt sort of bad. I obviously said yes, missing the adorable dog. Currently, I was walking down the street while Ed held the leash.

"I remember there being a park over here somewhere," I commented, because before Apple had changed owners I had seen the park and wanted to bring him there. I never got the chance to because Ed took him.

"Yeah, that's where I was walking to," Ed said, pushing up his glasses with his free hand.

"So," I started, "are you friends with Charley...?"

"I was," he shrugged, and I thought he looked kind of annoyed. Not at me, but at Charley. If anyone was going to be annoyed, it was going to be me because of how last night had ended and because I didn't have Apple.

"What happened?" I asked, interested. Ed seemed nice, and apparently he had also been friends with Adam. I found myself wondering why Charley became friends with Mark and Ben when he had Ed.

"He became a dick," he responded, his mouth forming a frown. I was surprised he admitted this so freely in front of me, considering I was Charley's cousin. We made it to the park and stayed there for about twenty minutes, playing with Apple and talking to each other. I discovered that my assumption of Ed being nice was correct, even if he was a little weird, but then again, who _wasn't_ a little weird?

Then after the park, I went back home. The rest of the day I stayed inside, watching movies, before I eventually went to bed. Ed surprised me the next day by coming over again. And then again the day after that, until it was a whole week I had spent getting to know Ed. In my opinion, we were becoming fast friends. My friendship with Ed was such a sharp contrast to my previous friendships, and maybe that was why. Ed was nice, and he listened to my thoughts and when I complained, and I in turn listened to his own thoughts and complaints. The person who gave me my scars controlled many months of my life through abuse, and compared to that, Ed was an angel.

It seemed Jane and Charley had noticed my recent friendship with Ed, because one night while we were eating dinner, my aunt asked: "Are you and Ed dating or something?"

I saw Charley give a horrified look, and I found myself mirroring his expression.

"What?" I asked for clarification. Maybe I hadn't heard her correctly.

"No need to be shy about it, Vanessa. You can talk to me," she smiled, oblivious to my thoughts.

"We're just friends, aunt Jane," I told her. Then I permanently ended the conversation by standing up and placing my empty plate in the sink. I stepped down the stairs to the basement and changed into my pyjamas because it was dark out and I was tired. I fell asleep rather quickly, my warm blankets bundled around me.

I had a dream that night. Someone was yelling at me, and slamming me into the walls, and pushing me to the ground. I was crying, and curled in on myself, trying to block the screams and hurt. Suddenly, my hands were burning with pain. I opened my eyes to see that there were cuts and gashes, with blood sliding down my fingers onto the floor. A few of my fingers seemed to be bent at odd angles, and I realized that they must have been broken. Then I felt a literal burning sensation, like someone was pressing a lit cigarette to my skin. It all stopped for a moment, and the person who had been screaming at me and hitting me was talking quietly, calmly. I uncurled from my ball on the floor, and they grabbed my hands, gently pulling me up. My mind seemed to be shaking, and when they put their arms around me, I couldn't breathe. I was choking. I pushed them away and felt my neck. There was a gash, like someone had slit my throat, and blood was gushing from my neck.

And that was when I woke up, with a screech. On impulse, my hands flew to my neck. That was when I felt myself sobbing, and shaking. I was gasping for air. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself. It took at least three minutes to get my breathing under control, and even then, my lungs were still crying out for air. I pulled my blanket over my head, and wiped the tears from my face.

I thought I was over this? The last time I had had a nightmare about _him_ was more than a month ago. I forced my thoughts away, not wanting to deal with them. I sniffled, and knew that I wouldn't be going back to sleep. I gave a small sob, leftovers from the few minutes earlier, and stood up, wrapping my blanket around myself. I headed upstairs, intent on watching a movie or reading a book.

And that was how I passed the rest of my time, until I heard Charley and my aunt's alarm clocks go off. A few minutes later, one alarm clock went off again, and I assumed that Charley had hit the snooze button. His alarm went off one more time before I heard him come stomping down the stairs again. I briefly wondered if he ever found his essay.

When he saw me, he had a weird expression on his face that obviously said, 'why are you up this early?'

"I couldn't sleep," I explained, answering his non-verbal question. He nodded his head sluggishly, and went to the kitchen to get some breakfast. I decided to join him because I was hungry. We ended up eating the same thing: cereal. Then he finished and left to get dressed, but he was back a few minutes later, getting ready to go outside and catch the school bus.

"Don't you have a bike-thing?" I asked him, putting my bowl in the sink, "why don't you ride that to school?"

"I don't trust it enough," he answered. "I feel like it's going to explode whenever I ride it for more than three minutes."

"Oh..." I said, and then went completely off topic, "I think Ed misses you, Charley. You should talk to him."

Charley shrugged it off and walked out the front door, his bag hanging off one shoulder. Can anyone say douchebag?

A little while later, my aunt came downstairs, nicely dressed, makeup on, and hair done. I greeted her with a smile and she did the same before going to eat breakfast. From her spot in the kitchen, I heard my aunt ask why I was up so early.

I gave her the same answer I gave Charley: "I couldn't sleep."

As she was leaving for work, she gave me a hug and said she would be home at five, maybe four. Then out the door she went. I looked at a clock nearby, and it read 7am. My thoughts raced back to my nightmare, and I felt an intense need to call my father. I quickly went down to my room in the basement and pulled out my cellphone and called him. I didn't know if he was sleeping or not, but he always answered my calls, no matter what he was doing.

He picked the phone up a few rings later with a tired, "hey, Vanessa."

I felt bad because I woke him up, but he told me to talk to him if I had any more nightmares or alarming thoughts.

"Hey, Dave... I had a nightmare last night."

"Oh, honey," he sounded more awake now, "are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now," I replied, "I'm sorry I haven't called you at all."

I thought back to Adam, and his sister's body, and the body of the woman in the theatre. There was so much blood, just like in my dream. Why was there so much blood? I was going to tell Dave that perhaps moving here was a bad idea, but he spoke before I did.

"It's alright, honey," he said, and then added, "I have some good news, though. I think I found a job there that I can switch to, and Jane is going to help me find a house." I decided not to tell him my thoughts on the matter, because I knew he was going through all the trouble for me. He knew I couldn't handle going back to my old school or town.

We talked on the phone for a good thirty minutes, before he told me he had to get ready for work. I heard him pause over the phone.

"I didn't want to tell you this because I didn't want you to worry," he told me and continued, "but, they released Tom early for good behavior and progress a week ago. It didn't help that his parents have good lawyers."

I stopped breathing. They released him? They released Tom? They released the man who tried to _kill_ me?

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Vanessa..." I heard him wait for my reply, but he soon realized that I wasn't going to give one.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said sadly, "we will talk more later, I promise, but I have to go. I love you."

He again waited for me to say something, and ten seconds passed over the phone before he gave one more goodbye and hung up. I stared at my phone silently, and an hour passed, but my eyes had still not strayed from their gaze on my phone. The only thing that seemed to make any sense was that _Tom was released.__  
_

I felt tired all of a sudden, and my eyes easily drooped close as I curled up on the couch with my blanket. I dreamt about Tom, and the cold tip of a blade slipping through my skin. This dream repeated itself many times over, but I did not wake up. What finally woke me up was a knock at the front door. I checked the time on my phone, which said 4pm. For the first time that I had been here, I looked through the living-room window before answering the door. It was Ed.

When I opened the door, I gave him a hug because I was desperately in need of one. He didn't say anything if he was uncomfortable or not, but I pulled away a few seconds later. I noticed he did not have Apple with him.

I voiced my thoughts, "where's Apple?"

"He's missing," Ed stated, "I can't find him anywhere. I was thinking maybe he got out and came here."

"No..." I trailed off. Maybe Apple had come here when I was sleeping? "When did he go missing?"

"I think sometime in the night," he told me before I invited him inside.

"Well, let me get dressed and we'll go look for him," I said, and went down stairs to change out of my pyjamas. When I was done, we shut the front door, and I yet again had to keep the front door unlocked because I was still without a house key. We started to walk down the street, whistling and calling Apple's name. We did this for an hour until the sky began to darken, but we continued for another hour. By 6pm, we had walked through the neighborhood twice already with no sign of Apple.

"Do you think he wandered out of the neighborhood?" I asked Ed, worried.

He shook his head, "no, I don't think so. Apple's lived in this neighborhood his entire life, and I don't think he would stray from its familiarity."

"I have to go," Ed continued, "my parents are making dinner, and they like to eat dinner as a family."

I nodded my head in understanding, "alright. I'll see you later, then."

"Bye, Vanessa," he said, and to my surprise began to hop over people's fences through their yards. I assumed it must be quicker to get to his house that way. My aunt's house was only a few houses down, so I began to walk. As I approached, I saw through the dark that Jerry was outside. I quickened my pace, hoping to avoid him. The last time I had seen or talked to him was about a week ago when I had bitched at him. I might have felt bold and brave enough to do that then, but it wasn't so now.

Lady Luck wasn't on my side, it seemed, because he spotted me as I was walking past his house. When he began to advance towards me, I froze. I felt my legs shake, and I willed them to stop. He had this look in his eyes, and then I remembered something: I kicked his truck. _Shit_.

"Long time no see," Jerry greeted, and to my amazement, there was no anger in his voice. Actually, he seemed rather pleased.

He raised his hand to his mouth, and I noticed he was holding something. I heard a faint crunching sound, and I realized that it was an apple. I saw the juices run down his face and I had to force myself to look away. Speaking of apples...

"Yeah..." I spoke, and then added, "do you remember that little dog I had with me?"

When he nodded his head in acknowledgement, I continued, "well, he's missing. Have you seen him around?"

I was distracted once again by Jerry biting into the apple.

"No, I haven't," he answered, and I felt my mood sink.

"Oh..." I mumbled gloomily, and then added as an afterthought, "I'm sorry about... yelling at you, and about your truck."

"There's no need to apologize," he smiled slyly, "it's all been taken care of."

I gave something of a smile in return. He began to walk away, and just before disappearing into his house, he turned and caught my eyes. From my distance, I saw rather than heard him give a little laugh. Then he closed his door, and I was left to stand in front of his driveway in confusion.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: A month... I'm sorry peoples. D: I don't have any reason why, and my only excuse is that I'm lazy...**

**Thanks to Ralai and Ashley for reviewing! :) Reviews are my most favorite part of writing a story because I get feedback!**

**If you see any mistakes, grammar or otherwise, please point them out!**

Another two weeks passed, and during those days I had managed to get a job, school was out for summer vacation for Charley and Ed, and there was still no sign of Apple. My job was in town, and I took the city bus to get there. Sometimes Jane would give me a ride if she wasn't busy. My boss told me my work hours were usually from 6pm to 12am, with an hour or two change. I didn't have a problem working that late into the night, my only concern was that the city buses didn't go that late. They stopped doing their rounds at 10pm. I mentioned this in one of my conversations to Ed, who suggested to me that he would pick me up after work. At first I told him no, but he was stubborn and said he usually stayed up till 3 in the morning anyway and it was no big deal. I gave in and ended up giving him a hug in gratitude, saying I would pay him for gas money.

Ed and myself started to hang out more because he didn't have school, and I would have done the same with Charley, but he was always with Mark and Ben. I began to feel myself growing away from Charley and more towards Ed. I also had my suspicions why Ed liked to hang out with me so much, but I didn't have enough to proof to convince myself that Ed liked me.

When I found myself alone, I would draw in my sketchbook while my mind wandered off, mostly to things like Apple, Jerry and Tom. After two weeks of Apple's disappearance, I had somewhat let go of him. If he was gone, then he was gone, and the only way he would come back is if he wanted to. Ed, on the other-hand, was stubborn. He liked to drag me around the neighborhood at least once a day for half an hour, and sometimes even through town. We had already looked in the pound, and hung some posters up with Apple's picture on it.

A month passed, and it was July. Dave had secured a job nearby and was currently working with my aunt to look for a house. They estimated that it would take two or three months. This meant I would still be sleeping in the basement by the time school came around again, but I wasn't bothered much by it.

During dinner, Charley would talk on and on about this girl at his school named Amy. Apparently Mark or Ben had introduced them sometime in the summer. Well, maybe not introduced. They knew each other in school, but it was only recently that Charley had changed social groups. As I said before, though, he talked about her alot. It was obvious he liked her.

Over the month that I had been working at my job in town, I had gathered a rather large amount of money for an eighteen year old. I didn't spend it on anything except for gas money for Ed and new pencils for my sketchbook. My sketchbook was actually full of sketches and drawings of Jerry. That night he had seen my sketchbook? That was only one page. This was multiple pages, and if he ever got his hands on it for whatever reason, I would have probably died of embarrassment.

Currently I was sitting on a bench at the bus stop at the entrance of my neighborhood. Bored, I looked at the sky and was glad that it was summer, because then it meant that the sun stayed out longer. I liked the sun, because it was bright and always made me happy. After all those months being with Tom, I was done being in the dark.

I heard a noise and realized that the bus had come to a stop in front of me. Picking up my things, I stepped onto the bus and sat in the seat closest to the driver. About ten minutes later, I was let off the bus and within a few steps, I walked through the door to my job. It was a book store, and I often wondered why it stayed open so late. It wasn't like a bunch of people got the urge to go buy a book at eleven at night or later. It was fine by me, though, because I was the one who got the extra money.

"Hi, Vanessa," a woman's voice greeted me, my boss. She was a woman in her earlier sixties, with gray eyes, and she had yellow teeth and a raspy voice due to smoking most of her life. It was only recently that she had quit. Her hair was short and light brown, not a gray hair to be seen because she dyed it

"Hi, Lucy," I greeted with a smile. I put my things under the front desk, and walked over to help her put some books away because they looked too heavy for her to be lifting. Actually, they looked a little heavy for myself to be lifting as well, but I was younger and could deal with it. Half an hour later, as Lucy was making her way to the door, she was telling me it was alright with her if I left work early. Then she was out the door and out of sight.

By then it was seven o'clock and the sun was still up. I sighed in boredom, because while the money was easy to make, I generally had nothing to do for multiple hours. Usually, I would draw in my sketchbook, but I could only do that for so long without getting bored again. Another three hours passed when I heard the little bell on the door ring. I stood from my seat and looked up, a smile nearly forming on my face when I realized who it was. I screamed.

"_Get out! GET OUT_!"

My throat burned from the sudden pitch of my voice, but I didn't care. The only thing that I cared about was getting as far away as possible from the demented person who was walking closer to the front desk. My brown eyes were locked with his blues ones, and I just barely stopped a shudder from shaking my entire body. His light brown hair was combed for once, just like he always did it when he used to apologize to me. Then he was right in front of me.

Tom. The man who slit my throat and almost killed me. He was standing right in front of me.

My mind was blank, because I just couldn't comprehend _how_. How did he find me? How did he know where I worked? Was he _stalking_ me now, too?

Tom gave a cruel smile and reached for me, and the next thing I knew, I was screaming and my hand was shoving my pencil into his throat. Blood shot out almost instantly, spraying onto my face, scarf, and shirt, and streamed down my glove which was still holding onto the pencil. I slowly let go, and looked up to see Tom staring at me. We held each other's gazes for a few moments before he fell to the floor with a loud thud.

I could hear him gargling, choking on his own blood. He was bleeding to death. The noise from his choking lessened as the seconds rolled by, until it ultimately stopped.

I silently stood there, before sitting back down in my seat. Did I just... _murder_ someone? I saw movement near the bottom of my vision, and when I looked down, I saw blood inching its way towards my feet. The evidence was right there in front of me, that yes, I had killed someone.

The bell to the front door rung, and I shot up from my seat in a panic. From across the room, I saw Jerry. Of all the people that could have walked through that door, it had been _Jerry_.

My mouth opened and closed, trying to form words as to why there was a dead man in front of my desk. It seemed that the more I realized what I had done, the more my mind began to spin out of control.

"I can-"

"What? Explain?" Jerry cut me off, and slowly walked around the dead man on the floor. He inhaled deeply for a moment before continuing, his voice deeper, "there's nothing to explain. You killed someone."

"No... _no_! Y-you don't understand! It was an _accident_!" I sobbed, the pitch of my voice high. I had acted in a rush of terror when Tom had reached for me, it was pure instinct that had jammed the pencil into his throat. "Jerry, he-"

"_No_, Vanessa," Jerry, who had come to stand in front of me, growled. I jumped away from him in fear, bumping into the wall behind me. "You knew what you were doing. You wanted him gone from your life. _Permanently_."

I slid down the wall behind me while shaking my head. No, that couldn't be true. I was a good person!

Seeming to read my thoughts, Jerry leaned down to face me and whispered, "do good people murder other people?"

Nothing left my mouth except for my ragged breathing. I closed my eyes, and escaped from the sight of Jerry's accusing stare and the blood that was continuing to creep towards me. Had I purposely killed Tom? Somewhere in my mind, was there a place that truly wanted him dead? I didn't think so, maybe gone from my life, but not _dead_...

"We need to call the police," I stated suddenly, opening my eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that it was the right and only thing to do.

Mine and Jerry's eyes locked. He seemed to study me before finally voicing his thoughts:

"You can't."

"What?" I gaped, "I just killed someone!"

"Exactly," Jerry told me, "what do you think the the police will do when they find a girl who was at two previous murder scenes?"

"I-I didn't kill _them_, though!" I protested in a panic, and any rationality that I might have had was shattered.

"They'll think you snapped," he went on, ignoring me. "Just like you did in here, with Tom."

I remained quiet and my thoughts were blank. I was staring at my feet, but I could feel Jerry's eyes on me. Ever so slowly, my mind seemed to open to the possibility that, yes, maybe the police would think I killed Adam's family and that woman. I couldn't go to jail for something that I didn't do. Blood touched my shoes, and I was reminded of Tom. I killed him, and I knew it, but did I deserve punishment for killing someone who nearly killed _me_?

"I'll take care of the mess," Jerry spoke smoothly. I simply nodded, too frazzled to really understand what he was saying. I felt something on my face, and when I forced myself to focus, I realized that Jerry had run a finger down my cheek. I saw blood on the tip of his finger as he drew his hand closer to his face, and that was when I remembered there was blood all over my own face and shirt. My gaze was drawn back to Jerry, and in that exact moment, I saw him suck the blood on his finger. My eyebrows came together in confusion, but before I could do anything, he stood up, dragging me with him.

"Here," Jerry voiced and then took his shirt off, handing it to me, "change your shirt and go clean your face up."

Silently, I grabbed the shirt and headed towards the book store's bathroom. Once there, I shut the door and looked into the mirror. It looked like someone had taken a paint brush and flicked large amounts of red paint all over my face and shirt. My black hair was a mess, and my brown eyes looked both tired and alarmed at the same time. It was another sight I knew I would never forget.

I slowly turned the faucet on and let the water run until it was warm. Once it was, I took a few paper towels and wet them before wiping my face clean. Next, I pulled my blood-stained shirt and scarf off and threw them to the floor, partly in disgust and partly in relief. Jerry's shirt wasn't his usually white wife-beater, instead it was some semi-formal black shirt with long sleeves. When it was on, I couldn't help but notice that it smelled like him. Looking back into the mirror, my eyes were drawn to the scar on my throat.

I forced myself away from the mirror and picked my shirt and scarf up from the ground and left the bathroom. I was surprised when all I saw was Jerry sitting on the front desk. Once again he was staring at me, and I openly stared right back. Of course, this was somewhat difficult because he was shirtless and because I was wondering how Tom's body and all the blood was utterly and completely _gone_. The only evidence that anything illegal had happened was in my hands.

Jerry beckoned me closer and when I did, he stepped onto the floor from the desk and took my scarf and shirt from my hands. He paused a second later.

"Your gloves," his voice was quiet, and rolled from his tongue in a raspy sort of way.

I looked down at my gloves, wondering why he mentioned them. When I saw the blood, I sighed tiredly and pulled them off my hands before offering them to Jerry. He took them without a word and motioned for me to follow him. Grabbing my things on the desk, I walked after him and remembered at the very last moment to lock the store with the key Lucy had given me.

He lead me to his truck, which I hopped into without a word. He didn't turn the truck on, so I just sat there in silence, gazing out the window into the dark.

"You can't tell anyone about this," he suddenly said, and I swore I heard an edge of warning in his tone.

"I know," I mumbled, too drained of energy to put up a fight. He seemed pleased with my answer, and started the truck up. I must have fallen asleep, because I felt myself jolted awake in alarm when I felt something cold on my shoulder. I realized that it was Jerry, who had put his hand on my shoulder to wake me up.

I stumbled out of the vehicle, and sluggishly walked over to my house. As I was unlocking the door, I momentarily glanced to my right. Jerry was leaning against his truck, watching me with his arms crossed. His expression was blank and so I had no idea what he was thinking about. Quickly, I pushed myself into the house and shut the door behind me. Too tired to walk downstairs or change clothes, I fell onto the couch and fell asleep.

**A/N: BTW, this whole story was based off the basic idea of Jerry meeting a girl who killed someone, which was Vanessa killing Tom. This is where the real shiz begins. xD**

**PLEASE REVIEW. PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE. :D  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So, I was really excited to get another chapter out because I haven't updated for a month, so here you are :D **

**Thanks to Ashley, Catherine, Ralai, Lara F and RTVampireKilljoy for reviewing! You people would laugh if you saw how excited I get when I find reviews :)**

**RTVampireKilljoy, thank you for pointing out the shoes. I totally forgot there was blood on them. And I went back and reread and now understand what you meant. I said, "a smile nearly forming on my face when I realized who it was" and it should have been "a smile nearly forming on my face before I realized who it was."****  
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**If you see any mistakes, please tell me!  
**

I woke up due to the sun blasting it brightness into my face. With a groan, I sat up from the couch and stretched, trying to shake away the leftover tiredness. I sat there for a few moments, staring at the ground because I had just woken up. I shifted my gaze to my shoes, which I had not taken off when I went to sleep on the couch the night before. There was blood on them.

Quickly, I took them off and rushed to the sink in the kitchen and attempted to rinse the blood off. It was on the bottom of the shoe, and thankfully not on any of the top material, so the red liquid easily came off with some really hot water and scrubbing. I sighed in relief, and threw them next to the couch. I stood in front of the sink for a few minutes before deciding to take a shower.

Thirty minutes later, I was done and drying myself off with a fluffy towel. Ten minutes after that I was dressed, but I was gloveless and scarfless. I briefly thought about just telling Jane and Charley about my scars and how I got them. Unfortunately, that would lead to telling them about Tom, and I couldn't have anyone asking me about him.

The thought of Tom made me feel both guilty and angry. It was obvious why I felt guilty, afterall, who _wouldn't_ feel guilty after killing someone? The more I thought about it, though, the less remorse I felt. He had tried to kill me and nearly succeeded, it was only fair to return the favor. No, I decided that I wouldn't feel sorry that Tom was gone from this world. I would feel sorry that I had taken a life, but I was glad that it was Tom who was gone. I felt anger because even dead, Tom was causing trouble in my life. If he hadn't stalked me, then he wouldn't be dead, and I wouldn't be trying to cover up a murder.

Jerry was right. I couldn't go to the police. They knew my history with Tom, and would assume that I had killed him out of spite. Either that, or they would think I had snapped and also killed Adam and his family, and that woman in the theatre. I was thinking so intensely that I didn't see Charley, who was standing in front of the bathroom door.

"Hey," his voice brought me of my thoughts, "I need to use to the bathroom. Like really bad. Can you get out?"

"Oh," I dumbly said, "yeah, sure."

I grabbed my things and headed out of the bathroom, and I couldn't help but notice that Charley was staring at my scars. He was trying to be discreet about it, but his eyes were definitely wider than they had been before. _Shit_.

"Vanes-" he started, but I interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

"Don't ask. It's none of your business," I hissed bluntly, and hurried away. I went to the basement and threw my things into the laundry. Something caught my eye, and I looked back into my laundry basket. Jerry's black shirt was there. I had forgotten he had given it to me. I sighed and figured I should return it to him. It seemed that once I remembered it was his, when I picked it up, his smell invaded my nose. He smelt good.

I didn't bother with covering my hands or neck, because both Charley and Jerry had seen them, and Jane was at work. I could worry about her seeing them later. I put my blood-free shoes on and headed out the door to Jerry's house. Once there, I hesitantly knocked on his door. I knew he was home because his truck was in the driveway. I waited for a minute before knocking again. No answer.

I bit my lip. Was he ignoring me? When the thought entered my mind, it opened a gate that I hoped wouldn't be opened. Was he ignoring me because he didn't want anything to do with me? If so, did he call the cops? I began to freak out, my eyebrows coming together in worry as I looked down at my feet. What was I going to do?

"Vanessa!" someone's voice rang out, making me flinch rather violently. I turned to see who it was, discovering Ed standing in my driveway on his skateboard. I slowly walked over to him, hiding my hands behind my back. I also kept my face turned slightly downwards because he wouldn't be able to see the scar on my neck from that angle.

Ed noticed my odd behavior and pointed it out, "are you okay?"

I avoided looking him in the eye, and answered, "yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

Before he could say anything else, I walked passed him, saying that I felt sick and that he should come over another time. He seemed disappointed, but did as I suggested, hopping onto his skateboard and leaving. I appreciated that he didn't put up an argument, and I assumed that he thought I wasn't in a mood for company.

I went back inside my house and sat on the couch, checking the time as I did so. It was eleven in the morning, and already I felt as if a whole day had passed. I must have been more tired than I felt. Feeling the couch move, I looked to see what was causing it and found Charley sitting next to me.

"Don't ask about my scars," I told him, folding my arms across my chest because I felt rather defensive.

"Wasn't going to," Charley replied. I glared at the tv screen, wondering what he wanted. He hadn't really talked to me recently, since he had been hanging out with Mark, Ben, and Amy.

"So, did you get me anything?" he asked out of the blue. My eyebrows raised as I turned to face him.

"Why would I get you anything?" I questioned, annoyance slipping its way into my voice.

"Because it's my birthday?" Charley spoke easily, as if it was the most simplest thing in the world.

"Oh," I said in surprise, "_oh_. Oh my God, I'm so sorry Charley. I completely forgot."

I felt like such a horrible cousin.

"I'll bring you out to dinner tonight," I said to him, "and Mark and Ben can come. I'll pay for everyone."

"I thought you didn't like them?" Charley asked me, though there was a small smile on his face because he was getting food for his birthday.

"I don't," I admitted. I also didn't care to try to get to know them. Tom had been just like that before he started to abuse me. Over the last few months I had started to wonder why I had been attracted to someone like that in the first place.

The brief thought of Tom made me feel bitter, but I threw that emotion away when I reminded myself that I wasn't going to feel remorse over his death. I remembered that I still had Jerry's shirt in my hands, which Charley didn't notice. He probably assumed that it was my shirt.

"Isn't _your_ birthday coming up in a few weeks?" Charley commented, standing up from the couch.

"Yeah, the third of August. It's two weeks away," I replied. After receiving my answer, he walked away, most likely to go eat breakfast in the kitchen.

I also stood up from the couch, but instead of going to the kitchen, I went down to the basement. I laid down on the air-mattress, pulling the covers up to my chin and curling into a fetal position. I brought Jerry's shirt closer to my nose and inhaled. Like before, it smelt wonderful, and my bad mood seemed to lighten.

I thought seriously about Jerry. He wouldn't help me just to call the police on me the next day, would he? It seemed rather pointless. I sighed and turned my thoughts away from what had happened the previous night. Instead, I thought completely about Jerry. He was handsome in a dark way, with his black hair and brown eyes. He was finely muscled, and I could tell he was stronger than the average person just by looking at him. He was usually quiet, and seemed to silently observe the people around him. He was rather mysterious, and I wasn't sure whether that was a good or bad trait.

I dozed off, having a pleasant dream for once. I had been sleeping for about seven hours when I felt someone try to wake me up. It was Charley, telling me that it was six, and if I wanted to bring him out to dinner, then we should probably leave.

"Mark is driving us," Charley said, and I remembered that I didn't have a car to drive around in. I needed to get one. I would, of course, use my money, and perhaps with some financial help from Dave, and I would soon have a car. I needed to talk to him about this the next time we were on the phone together.

"Do you have another pair of gloves I can borrow?" I asked Charley, who had to think for a moment. After a few seconds he nodded his head and went upstairs to get them for me. I looked into one of my bags that I still hadn't exactly unpacked and pulled out a scarf. While I had had that one pair of gloves when I first came to live here, I did have more than enough scarfs. Not only did they cover my scar, but they were comfortable to wear, even in the summer as long as they were light.

Once I was upstairs, Charley handed me some gloves. They weren't the kind that I would usually wear to cover my scars, but they would have to do. Before heading out the door, I asked my aunt if she wanted to come with us, but she told me that she was busy dealing with troublesome clients. Besides, she had already given Charley his present earlier. Five minutes later, I was in the car and we were driving into town. Charley had picked a somewhat expensive restaurant, which I didn't blame him for. Afterall, it was his birthday, but I didn't want to end up spending two hundred bucks. Boys ate alot.

When we were seated, I sat next to Charley because that was where I obviously felt the most comfortable. After a few moments, our orders were taken and we were left to chat while we waited for our food.

"Thanks for bringing us," Mark said, and I was rather surprised he had even said thank-you. _Guess he isn't as bad as I thought he was._

Ben also thanked me and Charley followed suit. I told them it was no problem.

"So, you're going to be in school with us?" Mark asked, probably wanting to get to know me because it was possible I might end up in a few of his classes.

"Yeah," I answered, and then a question of my own popped up, "do you guys have senior project?"

"What's that?" Ben spoke up, entering the conversation.

"In my old school, you had to choose a topic, and then make something and write a research essay on it," I replied. I hated my senior project in my old school.

"We don't have that," Charley voiced, "not yet, atleast."

Our food came a few seconds after Charley had answered and we began to eat. The three boys chatted about events and people that I didn't know, so I just listened in. No doubt a few of the people they were mentioning I would meet once school started. I definitely knew who I was going to avoid. Then we left once we were done, and by then, it was about nine o'clock.

I noticed that Jerry's truck was still in the driveway, so while Charley went upstairs to do whatever, I grabbed the black shirt that was laying on my air-mattress. Once I was standing in front of Jerry's door, I knocked a few times. I was glad to see his face when he opened the door a moment later.

"Here," I said gently, holding out the black shirt for him to take.

"Why don't you come inside?" he suggested, and held the door open for me to walk in. I did so after a moment's hesitation.

He closed the door and I couldn't help but get the feeling that I was trapped. I swallowed the paranoia away and once again held out his shirt. He grabbed it, and as he did, one of his fingers brushed against my own. A chill ran up my arm and I had to jerk my hand away. He gave one of his sly-smiles, like he was enjoying something, before walking further into his house.

I looked around, my eyes sliding over what was before me. His house was rather empty, which I thought was strange because he had been living here for atleast two months. Then again, I hadn't unpacked my own bags and I had been living there two months, also. I saw a few tools here and there, and I recalled that he had been working on his basement. The windows were painted black, and he also had thick black curtains that were draped over the windows. This was nothing like it used to be when my mother and myself lived in it. I was forced to stop my observation of his house when I caught his eye.

"Why did you help me?" the words popped out of my mouth before I even had a chance to think about them.

"It doesn't matter," Jerry brushed my question away with ease. My eyes were still locked with his, and I felt the urge to just go along with what he was saying. Unfortunately, I had more questions. _Alot_ more.

"What happened to Tom's body?" I continued, ignoring the urge to stop questioning him.

"It doesn't matter," Jerry repeated, this time showing his teeth in a grin, like it was funny.

"_Stop saying that_!" I yelled at him, but his little grin remained intact.

"Stop screaming," he chuckled, and I could practically taste the threatening tone on my tongue.

I sighed, and asked, "why didn't you call the police?"

"Because I didn't want to," Jerry smoothly said. I stared at him, and thought: _what kind of answer is that?_

"I need to leave..." I mumbled, wanting to escape his presence. Earlier I had been happy to see him, but it wasn't so anymore. He wasn't answering any of my questions like I thought he would. I opened the door behind me, and right before shutting it, I heard him say:

"See you soon."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So, everyone knows that I updated on the 6th, but I also updated yesterday on the 7th, just to let you know. I updated rather quickly because I was excited to post the chapter, and now I realize that some people might have thought it was the same chapter. (I didn't really like chapter 8, I felt like it was just a filler D: )**  
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**Thank-you Ralai for reviewing :3 (To answer your review, I told what Tom did to her in a dream she had in chapter 6)  
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The next day, Charley showed me his presents that he received from Jane and my father. Dave and my aunt were brother and sister, afterall. From Jane, he basically got a new set of clothes for the upcoming school year, and she also got him spare parts so he could work on his bike. Dave didn't know Charley that well, so he ended up buying and sending him a video camera.

For some reason, that particular gift bugged me. It wasn't that I was jealous, but it was some feeling that nagged at me whenever I saw it. I brushed the feeling away, and looked forward to my own birthday, which was only two weeks away. I already knew what the majority of my presents were going to be because I asked for the same thing every year: art supplies.

At the moment, I was watching a movie with Charley. It was a present that Mark had gotten him, and the movie was about a murder which the police were investigating. I had no idea why I was watching it, as it would only make me worry. We were about halfway into the movie when the police found a video that had been taken when the murder took place, and suddenly, the feeling about the video camera made sense. Were there cameras in Lucy's bookstore? The thought made me sweat.

I jumped up from the couch, to which Charley gave me a weird look, but I ignored him and went out the front door. The sun wasn't out because it was nine at night, so it was somewhat dark. Thankfully, Jerry's truck was still in the driveway and I heavily knocked on his door. I could care less about how he had acted yesterday.

Like last night, he opened the door, but this time his black eyebrows were raised in a questioning manner and his arms were crossed.

So, I asked him about what had been bugging me for the majority of the day: "Were there any cameras? Did you see any cameras?"

I should probably know the answer because I had worked there for about a month, but I honestly hadn't paid any attention to see if there were cameras or not.

He remained silent for a moment, and I couldn't tell if he was doing it just to make me worry or if he was actually trying to remember. I was on the edge of having a panic attack when he finally responded to my question.

"There weren't any cameras," he informed me, ending my building anxiety. I shakily sighed in relief.

"Was there anything else you wanted, Vanessa?" Jerry uttered, uncrossing his arms and leaning against the frame of his door. His tone was rather suggestive, but I tried my best to ignore it. I shook my head no, and backed up a few steps, intent on leaving.

I hurried back to my house and sat down to watch the rest of the movie with Charley. I didn't really watch it, though, because my mind was stuck on Jerry and what he meant. He had never expressed an interest in me before like that, had he? Unfortunately, I knew that sometimes I could be a little blind. Maybe he had hinted, and I subconsciously ignored it because I was dealing with my issues from Tom. Damn, I was _still_ dealing with issues from Tom.

Once again, I was thinking about Tom. What was I supposed to do now? Just continue on with life and pretend that I hadn't killed him? It didn't feel right to do that. How could I possibly live my life when I ended someone else's life? I didn't care that it was Tom who had died, but just the thought that I had it in me to kill a human being was troubling. I sighed and decided that I would ignore any thoughts about Tom and his death as best as I could.

The next day, I quit my job. If I was going to avoid thinking about what I had done, what better way to do it than to avoid being where it occurred?

So, for two weeks I relaxed and spent time with Ed almost on a daily basis, and then with Charley and Jane when they were home. I saw Jerry every few days, but I never walked up to him to say hi or anything. Not only that, but I had also been having dreams about him everynight.

Currently the date was July 31st, it was a Sunday and we were celebrating my birthday. They couldn't throw the party on my actual birthday because Jane would be working late and we had just discovered that Charley needed to attend summer school. So, we improvised. Dave came down for the weekend to spend time with me, but he needed to fly back the next day.

There was only a few people there, which included my aunt, Dave, Charley, Ed and myself. It was a bit awkward to have Ed and Charley in the same room because they kept glaring at each other. I tried my best to keep them separated. There was pizza and I had a few presents stacked on the table. I had just bit a large chunk of my pizza when Dave told me to start opening presents. I smiled with a full mouth and did as he suggested. Opening my father's present first, I discovered a new sketchpad with some watercolors. I cooed in delight and thanked him with a hug.

Ed got me the first book in the vampire series by Stephanie Meyer, Twilight. I gave him a look, and he responded by shrugging, "I thought you girls liked that vampire shit?"

I laughed and gave him a hug, and continued by opening Charley's present, which was a colorful night-light. This was a great present because while I was used to the dark in the basement, it didn't mean that I enjoyed being in it. My aunt Jane ended up giving me a few gift-cards to some clothing stores, and said she would go with me next Saturday when she wasn't working.

After opening the presents, we ate the chocolate cake that Dave and my aunt made earlier in the day and sat down to watch a movie. When it ended, Ed had to leave because it was nearly 10pm, and I gave him a hug goodbye. We chatted for about an hour, before Jane went upstairs to sleep because she had to work in the morning. Charley did the same because he had summer school. So, it was just Dave and myself.

"So, how've you been?" Dave asked, "we haven't really talked on the phone recently."

"Yeah, I know," I shrugged, and leaned back against the couch to get comfortable, "life's just been busy..."

Dave didn't say anything for a few moments, but I had a feeling he was going to bring up our last conversation on the phone.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Tom," he started, "but I didn't want you to worry."

"It's fine," I told him with a small smile, "I don't think Tom will be bothering me anymore."

"Let's hope," Dave sighed heavily, "do Jane and Charley know about your hands and neck?"

"Charley's seen them, but he doesn't know how I got them," I voiced.

"Well, if that's what you want," then he shrugged his shoulders, and a moment later he added, "guess what?"

"What?" I smiled on impulse because I already knew what he was going to say.

"I love you," he spoke, and then leaned over to give me a hug.

My smile widened to show my teeth, and I hugged him back, "I love you, too, Dad."

I only called him Dad once in a while, and usually referred to him as Dave. My Mom died when I was eleven years old, and before that, I hadn't ever met my Dad because he left before I was born. My Mom always badmouthed him, saying that he abandoned us and didn't deserve our love. So, when my Mom was gone and I had to live with my Dad, I hated him. I called him Dave because I didn't want him to be my Dad. Dave had explained to me that he was really young when he had me and didn't feel ready to be a parent, so he left. After two years of living with him, though, I finally accepted and forgave him.

That day is one day that I wouldn't forget. Even though my mother had died two years prior, I was still having issues with her death. I was in school, and during the class I was in, I could feel myself about to sob, so I asked to go to the bathroom. When I was in the bathroom, I cried for a long time. Twenty minutes later, Dave came to pick me up, and I assumed that one of the teachers called him. He brought me to a pizza place, and we talked, and we really connected that day. Since then, Dave and myself have been really close.

"Well, I need to go to bed," Dave said, pulling away from the hug, "need to be in the airport early."

I nodded my head in understanding and headed downstairs with my presents. Dave was sleeping on the couch, so I couldn't stay up there if he was going to sleep. I plugged in the night-light that Charley got for me, and the dark basement dimly lit up with colorful lights. I put the rest of my presents on the side of the air-mattress and changed into my pajamas before getting into bed myself. I fell asleep within a few minutes, and just like every other night, Jerry was in my dreams.

Dave woke me up before he left to say goodbye and to give me a hug, and that he would be buying our house within a few weeks, so I would see him then. When he left, I fell back asleep. Monday and Tuesday passed rather quickly, and then it was Wednesday the third, my birthday.

I woke up that Wednesday morning to discover that Jane had bought me a dozen donuts from Dunkin Donuts for my birthday breakfast. I ate three of them, and didn't care how fattening they were supposed to be because they were too delicious to stop at just one. Then I took a shower and got dressed. By then, it was a little after eleven o'clock, and I knew I had several hours until either Jane or Charley got home. Charley usually got out of summer school by one o'clock, but Ben and Mark usually picked him up after and he hung out with them till about seven. I hoped he wouldn't do that today because it was my birthday. Jane usually stopped working between four and five, but today she was working late, which was why we had my birthday party on Sunday. I didn't know what Ed was doing, so I texted him if he wanted to hang out.

He responded a few minutes later with "sure, why not?" and I had to roll my eyes because he made it seem like he didn't want to. He knocked on the front door about twenty minutes later, and then we hung out in the backyard because I wanted to be out in the sun. Like I had hoped, Charley came straight home from summer school and joined us. It was sort of tense because of the mutual dislike the two boys held for each other. Ed left a few hours later to eat dinner with his family, and Charley and myself went inside because the sun was starting to set.

When it was half-past seven, I decided to call a pizza place because both of us were hungry and because it was my birthday. Since we ordered it so late, the pizza didn't get to the house till a few minutes after 8pm, but neither of us were bothered by it. We ate the pizza and left a few pieces for Jane when she got home, which would be soon. Thirty minutes after that, my aunt came walking through the door. I could tell she was exhausted.

"Happy 19th Birthday, Vanessa," she said, pulling me into a tight hug. She let me go a few moments later and grabbed a slice of pizza, practically shoving it into her mouth. I laughed rather loudly since I had never seen her do anything so un-mannerly, to which she swatted me on the shoulder. Then she headed upstairs to go to bed, saying she was beat. Charley brought down his xbox 360, which I didn't even know he had.

"You've had that in your room the whole time I've been here," I almost screamed in disbelief, "and you never told me about it?"

"Sorry," he grinned, and sat down with a controller in his hand, handing me the second one.

"Charley, you dick!" I said and snatched the remote he was offering out of his hand. We played a few different games till about ten thirty, and then Charley decided to go to bed because of summer school the next day. I was disappointed he was going to bed so early. For high schoolers, summer was supposed to mean staying up late and getting out of bed in the afternoon. I hadn't done so myself since I was seventeen, but Charley just turned seventeen a few weeks ago.

I was about to leave the livingroom when I heard a knock on the door, and because it was dark out, I checked through the window first. It was Jerry, and seeing him made my cheeks warm up just a bit. Seeing his face brought the dreams I had been having about him come to mind. They weren't innocent little dreams, either. So, I opened the door just enough for him to see my face.

Upon seeing me, Jerry gave one of his little smirks that I was beginning to think of as a trademark for him.

"Yeah?" I questioned, wondering what he wanted.

"Today's your birthday, right?" he asked, and I noticed that his voice, like usual, was deep and smooth.

"Yeah, how do you know?" I spoke, looking him over. He was wearing that same black shirt he had let me borrow before.

"Kind of hard to ignore the noise your family was making on Sunday," he responded.

"Here," he continued and held something out for me. It was wrapped up, just like a birthday present should be. It looked to be about a foot long, and the wrapping material was black, and it was topped off with a red ribbon.

I grabbed it from his hands, and our fingers touched again, but unlike last time, I didn't snatch my hands back in surprise.

"Thanks..." I said with a smile small, and once the gift was properly in my hands, I noticed that it was rather heavy.

"Open it," Jerry urged, and if I didn't know any better, I would have said he was excited.

I tore the ribbon off along with the black wrapping, until all that was left was to open the box that the present was in. I took the top of the box off, and my eyes found what was inside. It was a wine bottle, with what looked to be red whine inside.

I looked up and spoke, "Jerry, I'm not twenty one."

He laughed in pure amusement, "Vanessa, underage drinking is the least of your crimes, don't you think?"

"I guess..." I shifted my gaze away from him, an unpleasant feeling finding its way into my gut when he uttered those words.

"Why don't you try it?" Jerry suggested, and I was about to refuse when he continued, "you'll like it, I promise."

He took the wine bottle from my hands and opened it for me, placing it back into my hands. Hesitantly, I raised the bottle to my lips before taking a small sip of the red wine to taste it. I never had wine before, but it felt too thick, and tasted differently than how I thought wine should taste. I took another normal sip before I lowered it from my lips.

When my eyes found Jerry's, he was looking at me intently like I was the only and most interesting person in the world. I shifted nervously.

"Why does this taste weird?" I asked.

"It's a secret," Jerry replied, and gave one of his sly smiles, "Happy Birthday, Vanessa."

Then he walked away.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thanks to Lara F, Ralai, Ashley, and Blythe for reviewing! Thank you for taking the time to tell me your thoughts because I really enjoy reading them :3**

The next day, I was surprised to discover that I had slept in till about 4pm and that I still felt tired. I was also mad that basically the whole day had passed me by. I got up and dressed myself, and when I went upstairs, the sudden light shining through the windows pained my eyes so much that I verbally voiced my discomfort.

"Ow," I muttered, closing my eyes to lessen the pain, "that's really bright."

Eventually, my eyes adjusted, but there remained a small discomfort in my sensitivity to the light. Looking around for breakfast, or rather lunch, I spotted the few donuts that were left over from yesterday. I grabbed one and took a bite, but as soon as the food touched my tongue, I involuntarily gagged. The donut tasted _horrible_. I found myself wondering if donuts got stale after only one day.

I threw the wasted donut in the trash and decided to eat a leftover slice of pizza. The pizza tasted a bit strange, too, but I ignored it because I was too hungry. Once my hunger was satiated, I called Ed to see what he was doing. Apparently his parents wanted me to come over so they could meet me and had also invited me to eat dinner that night with them. I agreed and walked the few minutes to Ed's house. Unlike him, I didn't go hopping through people's yards to get there quicker.

As I was walking to his house, I had to keep closing my eyes every few seconds. The rays of the sun were irritating them so much that at one point I actually had to walk back to my house to grab a pair of black sunglasses. Unfortunately, while I had solved one problem, another one seemed to appear. I felt a numbing sensation somewhere on my arm, and when I twisted to get a better look at why, I found a mild rash.

"So, this is what I get for turning nineteen..." I said to myself, sighing. I was let in to Ed's house once I was there, and stood before his parents. I noticed both of them wore glasses and assumed that Ed had inherited his bad eyesight from them. This reminded me to take my sunglasses off.

"Hi, I'm Vanessa," I smiled to make a good impression and held out my hand for them to shake. Ed's father took it first and shook my hand like any man would.

"Hi, Vanessa, you can call me John," he greeted back with a smile and let go of my hand.

"I'm Lori," his mother said with an even wider smile, taking my hand, also. She was obviously happy that her son had made a female friend.

Ed's mother told us that dinner would be ready in about an hour and they would call us when it was ready. Ed and myself nodded our heads and we headed for the living-room. I saw a grandfather clock in the corner of the living-room and I read the time to be six in the afternoon. Ed plopped down onto the couch and turned the television on while I sat down beside him.

"So, I wanted to introduce you to a show of mine. It's called Fright Night and it's pretty chill," Ed commented as he changed the channel to Fright Night.

"Yeah? What's it about?" I asked.

"Vampires, werewolves, that kinda shit," he told me and I responded by laughing.

"Are you sure that Twilight book wasn't yours before you gave it to me?" I grinned.

"Dude, that's not even funny," he stated seriously.

So, we sat and watched the show. The protagonist was named Peter Vincent, and each episode was a continuation of the last. Ed had to fill me in on some parts I didn't understand because I hadn't watched the earlier two seasons. The first season was about werewolves which lead into the second season about vampires. Currently in the third season, Peter Vincent was fighting the original vampire, Dracula.

As I watched the show, I was surprised to find myself actually _watching_ it. When Ed first showed it to me, I thought it would be one of those stupid, painfully cliché shows with over-the-top CGI. It wasn't. Well, maybe a little, but I knew that I would be tuning in to watch new episodes whenever they came on. When I told Ed this, he seemed overjoyed that I actually liked it.

Then dinner was ready and it ended up being spaghetti with other things on the side. All in all, it both looked and smelled delicious. When I put the first bite of spaghetti into my mouth, I was disappointed to find that it didn't make my taste-buds dance in joy like I thought it would. I actually had to refrain myself from spitting it out. I tried to eat it, though, because I didn't want to offend Ed's mother by saying that I didn't like the spaghetti.

At seven-thirty, the sun was beginning to set because summer was coming to a close. I was grateful when the sunlight dimmed, though, because it had been irritating my eyes. I looked down at my plate, and was happy to see that I had managed to eat half of the food that was there. Unfortunately, Lori asked me if there was anything wrong with the food.

"Um, no," I lied, "I guess I just ate too much for breakfast."

At eight o'clock, Ed walked me home. It was dark out as the sun had already set.

"I think there's a vampire living in our neighborhood," he said out of the blue. I stopped walking and looked at him. He did the same.

"What?" I asked, my voice full of disbelief and doubt.

"There is. A vampire. Living in. Our neighborhood," Ed repeated slowly.

"Yeah?" I questioned, "then who is it?"

"I don't know," he said in disappointment, "but I _know_ there's a fucking vampire living here."

"And you expect me to believe this...?" I trailed off, waiting for him to explain.

"Yes, of course I fucking _expect_ you to believe it!" he voiced in a rush.

"Why?" I responded, drawing my eyebrows together.

"Because it's true!" Ed said defensively.

"Ed," I started, "Fright Night is amazing and all, but it's fiction. Vampires aren't real."

"I'm not _talking_ about fucking Fright Night!" he told me, "I'm talking about real life, dude."

"You swear alot," I said offhandedly, and then continued, "do you have proof? Evidence? You can't expect me to believe you just because you say so."

"Fu-" he began, but then cut himself off, "if I find evidence, then you'll believe me?"

"Yeah..." I said slowly, not entirely sure what was going on anymore. Was I really having a conversation about finding evidence that vampires were real?

"Alright, then I'll find evidence," Ed stated, "and then you'll believe me. You'll fucking _have_ to."

By then, we were already on the sidewalk by my house, so Ed said goodbye and quickly left. I felt a little bad as I watched him walk down the street. I was discouraging his ideas, but they were impossible ideas, weren't they? Vampires didn't _exist_. Plain and simple.

As I turned around to start walking up my driveway, I bumped into something and fell backwards onto my bottom. Gazing up though the dark, I saw Jerry. His eyes were staring down at me, and while they were usually a dark brown, they looked absolutely _black_ in the absence of any light. He held out a hand for me to grab, and when I lifted my own hand and our skin made contact, a chill ran up my spine, like usual, at the lack of warmth.

"Vampires?" he questioned, showing his teeth when he smiled. I assumed he heard part of my and Ed's little discussion.

"Yeah," I smiled back, nervousness creeping its way into my voice at having Jerry's full attention. It didn't surprise me that I was acting this way.

"Ed thinks there's a vampire living in our neighborhood," I explained.

"Really?" his voice gave off a tone that I couldn't identify, "and who is it?"

"He... doesn't know," I spoke, "but he keeps insisting that it's true."

"Do you believe him?" he asked, and once again, there was that tone.

"No..." I voiced slowly, shaking my head, "I don't know. He seemed so _sure_ about it, though."

"Don't worry about it," Jerry let out a short laugh, "kids come up with crazy ideas these days."

"I guess. You... you don't think of me as a kid, do you?" I questioned carefully, keeping my voice neutral.

"No," he stated, and looked me in the eyes, "I don't."

I gave a small smile for reasons unclear to me. Why was I glad that Jerry didn't think of me as a child? I was an adult by law, this I knew, but when I was around Jerry I always felt so young, so childish. The feeling wasn't totally unjustified, though, as the handsome man definitely had more than a few years on me. I was attracted to him. I subconsciously knew this, but I had never actually admitted it to myself. Clouds of doubt cleared, allowing a light of understanding to shine through to my mind.

"Good," I said, and then boldly added, "I don't want you to see me as a kid."

If he was at all surprised by my sudden boldness, he hid it well.

"Why?" Jerry gave a smile that was just shy of being a smirk. He was teasing me.

"Because I'm nineteen, not twelve," my voice held its strength, but I could mentally feel it begin to curl into itself. My mind had unleashed a momentary strength of confidence, but it had been unleashed for too long and was washing away.

"What are you really trying to tell me, Vanessa?" my handsome neighbor spoke, and though his words were soft, his tone was enticing.

Then the confidence was gone.

"Um, nothing," I mumbled, my eyes falling to look to the ground.

"I see," I heard him say slowly, disappointment practically dripping from his mouth.

"I have to go," I suddenly voiced, wanting to get away from him and hide. I wanted to crawl under my bed-covers and pretend that I hadn't said anything. I walked away in a hurry, keeping my eyes locked onto the front door, not wanting to become distracted. Once the door was open and I was standing in its frame, I glanced at Jerry. I couldn't help noticing that while he seemed disappointed that I had run off, he also seemed pleased with something else. I mentally shrugged it off and shut the door.

I stayed up late into the night, not feeling the least bit tired, but also distracted by my thoughts. I eventually fell asleep around five in the morning, and when I woke up again, it was a few minutes past six in the evening. I was sleeping in alot later than I usually did last two days, and I wondered why. When my stomach grumbled, I was forced to think about my hunger instead of my recent unusual sleeping habits. I marched up the stairs into the kitchen, intent on getting some food into my belly.

As I looked around the kitchen for something to eat, I saw crackers, ravioli, chicken soup, and other things that I would have normally eaten. I craved to have something specific, but I didn't know what. I was forced to eat chicken soup when I could no longer handle the aching in my stomach. The taste of the soup left something to be desired, and as it slipped down the inside of my throat, I was reminded of the red wine. Something clicked in my mind, and I knew the red wine was what I wanted.

I left the soup half-eaten on the kitchen counter, and hurried down the steps into the basement. I found the wine bottle next to my mattress and sat down as I picked it up, uncorking it as I did so. When the red wine touched my lips and tongue, I couldn't help the sigh of contentment that left my throat and the feeling of satisfaction and something else race through my body.

I nearly laughed as the bottle left my lips. I made it sound like I was an alcoholic, which I wasn't.

A few large sips of the thick wine later, I was feeling full, so I capped the bottle and put it back next to my bed. When I heard the front door open and slam shut, I knew it was Charley, so I went up the stairs rather quickly. I was surprised that I didn't trip and fall all the way back down them at the speed I was going.

"Hi, Charley!" I greeted, my voice light.

"Someone's in a good mood," my cousin observed, "did you just get up or something?"

"Yeah, I did," I answered.

"Lucky," he said, his brown eyes nearly turning green in jealousy.

"I know," I grinned at him, "but it's your own fault you have to get up early for summer school, so don't be hatin' on me."

"But today's Saturday, right?" I continued to speak, "you didn't have summer school today."

"Yeah, but I just meant in general," Charley explained.

"Where's your mom?" I asked, suddenly remembering that she was supposed to bring me to spend the gift cards she had given me for my birthday. She probably saw me sleeping and decided not to wake me up.

"I don't know," my cousin shrugged, "I haven't seen her today."

A moment later, I heard banging on the door. I knew it was Ed before I even opened the door. He pushed passed me into the living-room, swinging a backpack off his shoulders and onto the couch.

"I have your proof!" he declared, pulling out a large slip of paper and laying it out on the floor. As I got closer, I noticed that the entire neighborhood was drawn out onto the paper and that there were about seven houses that were circled.

"What is this?" I asked, kneeling down.

"I just told you!" Ed voiced fiercely, pushing his glasses back up with his finger, "fucking evidence that there's a vampire around here."

"Ed, man," Charley spoke up, "quit shitting around. Why don't you get a life and stop obsessing over that show, huh?"

I was going to say something to my cousin, but Ed beat me to it.

"Shut the fuck up, Charley!" Ed nearly shouted, "go be a dick to someone else!"

Soon enough, their "conversation" turned into a full out argument. They were yelling, and throwing swears into their sentences to make themselves seem more macho. All the noise was giving me a headache, and I had the intense urge to bite down onto something.

"Guys, _stop_!" I demanded, and the aggression that ripped its way out of my mouth made the two boys stop immediately. Their eyes were wide with amazement at my tone.

"What. The. _Fuck_," I pronounced each word slowly. "You guys used to be best friends, and now you can't even be in the same room without yelling at each other! Charley, go upstairs and cool the fuck down. Ed, go home."

The word surprise didn't describe how I felt at that moment in time when both boys did exactly as I said without complaint. Ed simply walked out the door without a glance over his shoulder, slamming the door behind him, and my cousin stomped up the stairs, shutting his own door with more force than necessary.

I let out a long sigh, and sat down on the couch to calm down and closed my eyes. I felt something scratchy rub against my elbow, and when I opened my eyes to see what it was, I saw Ed's backpack sitting on the couch next to me. This reminded me of the large piece of paper that he had put down on the floor. Sliding off the couch and onto the ground, I looked down at the sheet, deciding to try and figure out what Ed meant by evidence.

**A/N: So, anyone curious why Vanessa didn't burst into flames/dust when she was out in the sun? xD **


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thanks to RTVampireKilljoy, and Lara F for reviewing :)**

I sluggishly woke up to the sound of feet coming down the steps into the basement, and when I peeked one of my eyes open, I saw that it was my aunt Jane. Ignoring her momentarily, I checked my phone to see what time it was. I found that it was ten in the morning, which explained why I was so damn tired. I had stayed up late again, so I had been sleeping for only about five hours. I groaned tiredly and pulled my blanket over my head. A moment later, the soft covers were roughly pulled from my body and I was forced to sit up.

"Jane, I wanna sleep!" I moaned in protest, leaning forward slightly to try and take back the blanket.

My aunt stepped back, keeping the covers from my reach, "nope. We're going shopping, so get up. You have fifteen minutes."

I groaned in agony as she walked up the stairs with my blanket in her hands. I decided to lay back down and when my head hit the pillow, I felt my eyelids grow heavy, and I thought _'I'll just close my eyes for a minute..."_

"Vanessa!"

I jerked awake and saw my aunt leaning over me with a rather amused expression on her face, "get up, lazy!"

"Not lazy," I disagreed, "just tired."

"All the same to me," Jane voiced, grabbing my hands and pulling me up from the air-mattress.

"Your hands are cold," she commented, and then rubbed her own hands together to warm them up. I pressed my fingers to my cheek and found it to be true. My hands were freezing.

"Yeah, they are," I said, and then motioned for her to go upstairs, "now shoo. Let me get dressed."

As soon as she was up the steps and the door was shut, I began to strip my clothes off and throw them onto the ground near the mattress. I knelt down next to some clothes that were folded and skimmed through them, picking out a red tank-top and shorts because it was summer. I decided to wear shoes instead of sandals because if we were going shopping, that potentially meant alot of walking. Unfortunately, I still had to wear my gloves and scarf. Picking up a brush, I ran it through my black hair, untangling any knots that might have accumulated over the fews hours that I slept.

I felt hunger sweep through my body as I started to walk up to the kitchen. This time, I knew it wasn't food that I hungered for. I stepped down from the stairs and picked the wine bottle up when I was close enough. I closed my eyes as the strangely thick wine slipped inside my throat, and once I had my fill, I placed it back on the ground. Something between a sigh and a moan left my lips in contentment as I felt a sense of warmth tingle through my body.

I took a minute to enjoy the feeling before heading upstairs. I found Jane waiting for me in the kitchen, coffee in her hands as she sipped from it.

"Ready to go?" she questioned me, to which I nodded my head. Jane also asked Charley if he wanted to come, but he gave us a horrified look and said no. Then we went out the front door, got into the van, and drove into the small town. There was a line of clothing stores, but if we didn't find anything there, she told me we could just go to Las Vegas and get stuff there. It was only about an hour away, after all.

"What about this?" my aunt suggested, holding up a green shirt. It was pretty, but seemed a little too frilly. I couldn't picture myself wearing it because I wore alot of plain looking clothes.

"Too frilly," I replied, and I heard her sigh.

"Vanessa, just because you lived with your dad," Jane began, "doesn't mean you have to wear plain clothes like him. You're a woman, it's alright to wear feminine clothes."

"I guess..." I mumbled, taking the green shirt as she held it out for me again.

In the end, Jane picked out about half of my new clothes, with my permission, of course. I wasn't going to let her get things that I knew I wasn't going to wear. Not only that, but I was nineteen, I couldn't have someone else picking out my clothes like I was twelve. I liked all the clothes that she picked out, though, none of them were super ugly or anything. In my opinion, they were all rather pretty. Then I tried on a bunch of jeans and two skirts. The skirts were for the rest of summer and maybe the beginning of school, after that I would wear the jeans. I also discreetly bought some new scarves and a few pairs of gloves.

On the way back to the van, I spotted a gothic looking store. Jane reluctantly followed me into it after I practically skipped there. I couldn't help being a little interested, after all, I had started watching Fright Night. As I looked around, I realized that the place was more like a Halloween store, except without the costumes and it was open all year long.

"Look, Jane," I voiced, and held something up, "a Ouija Board."

"Put that down," my aunt told me, a frown forming on her lips, "I don't like those things."

"No?" I asked, and raised my eyebrows in surprise. I didn't know my aunt was superstitious.

"I had a bad experience with them when I was younger," Jane explained as I put the Ouija Board back on the shelf.

"What happened?" I questioned in interest.

"When me and Dave used it one night, we were attacked," my aunt stated, and I followed her as she started to walk out of the store.

"Seriously?" I stared at her, and then added, "by what?"

"We don't know," she spoke, "but ever since, neither of us has touched a Ouija Board."

By then, it was about three in the evening, so we decided to go eat lunch. As we were seated, I looked over the menu, but nothing seemed to stick out. What I really want to eat, or drink, rather, was the red wine back at home. My eyes narrowed at that thought. I was becoming concerned that the wine seemed to be the only thing I had ingested for the last three days. Maybe something in the wine was making me lose my appetite? I would have to ask Jerry about it.

When the waitress came to take our orders, something in my mind urged me to get a steak cooked rare, so that was what I told the waitress I wanted. Jane decided on some spaghetti dish with shrimp and Cajun spices, and then the waitress left.

"What is that?" my aunt voiced suddenly, pointing to my arm, "is that a rash?"

"What?" I said dumbly, and then looked to see where she was pointing. It was the same mild rash that had been on my arm the other day.

"Oh, yeah," I continued to say, and then added, "I had it a few days ago, but it seemed to go away."

"You had it before?" she asked, "maybe you should see a doctor."

Our food arrived shortly after her suggestion. The steak that I ordered looked absolutely delicious, and I was going to put some sauce on it, but decided against it. We were done eating half an hour after that and left the restaurant to go home. It was a little after four when we walked into the house. I saw Ben and Mark sitting on the couch with Charley, and they were all playing his xbox that he had brought down. My aunt made a comment on how she would have liked it if Charley had asked if they could come over, but she wasn't overly upset about it.

I brought my newly purchased clothes downstairs and set the bags next to my bed. As I did so, my eyes caught the image of the wine bottle, and while I had a strong desire to drink from it, I refrained from doing so. I went back upstairs to hang out with my cousin and his friends. I didn't dislike Ben and Mark as much as I used to because I had gotten to know them a little better. I knew they got high a few times a week, but as long as they did it away from me, I was usually okay with it.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated, signaling that someone texted me. When I checked to see who it was, my screen read 'Ed.' He asked if he could come over, but I told him that I would go over his house instead. I didn't want another argument to happen. When he responded to my text, he told me to bring his bag that he forgot yesterday.

I grabbed his bag from downstairs and also a pair of sunglasses before heading outside. The sun had irritated my eyes whenever Jane and myself went outside to find a new store, and I didn't feel like dealing with that again. To my delight, I found that the sun had already set as it was half past six. I noticed some movement to my left, and when I turned my head, I saw Jerry. He was using a wheel barrow to empty something into a dumpster that I hadn't seen before. Ignoring that for the moment, I walked up to him, intent on asking about the wine and my recent lack of an appetite.

He spotted me and spoke before I could even open my mouth.

"Vanessa," Jerry greeted, giving me a charming smile, "how's the... wine?"

"Yeah, about that," I started, ignoring his smile lest I become distracted, "what's up with that wine? When I drink it, I feel like-"

"You feel like nothing else matters," he cut me off, finishing my sentence for me. I nodded my head, amazed that he knew what I was talking about.

"Yes, that... special kind of wine will do that to you," he continued to say, "that's why it's my favorite, and that's why I gave it to you."

"Well, I don't want it anymore," I stated, "so, I'm giving it back to you when I come home later."

"Oh, Vanessa," Jerry laughed in amusement, "that's easier said than done. You'll find it hard to resist the _wine_ when it calls to you."

I stared at him, "are we still talking about wine?"

My handsome neighbor gave a knowing smile, "what else would we be talking about?"

"I... don't know," I said slowly. My phone vibrated in my pocket, reminding me that I was supposed to be at Ed's house.

I started to walk away, but not before turning to Jerry, "I'm still giving you the wine back."

"Suit yourself," he spoke in a smooth tone, "but you'll regret it."

I was at Ed's house about fifteen minutes later. I probably could have made it there in five minutes, but that would have required jumping through people's yards. I decided not to, though, because I didn't want to get in trouble. Some people could get real bitchy when you walked on their property.

"You put the map back in, right?" Ed asked, taking his bag from me. I nodded my head as he emptied the bag right on his living-room floor. He grabbed the map and flattened it on the ground, smoothing out any wrinkles that might have appeared.

"I looked over it after you left," I told him, "but I wasn't sure what the circled houses meant."

"It means that the people living there are missing or they're dead," he responded.

"We live next to Las Vegas, Ed," I voiced, "some people are bound to go missing, or die..."

"Whole families, though?" Ed countered, narrowing his eyes, "in only four months?"

"That doesn't mean it's a vampire," I spoke up, "maybe they just moved, or are on vacation, or there's a seria-"

"Please, Vanessa," my friend sighed, "it's a vampire. You have to believe me."

"I don't know _how_ to believe you, Ed," I frowned.

He released a groan of frustration, "whatever. Once I get more evidence, then you'll believe me."

"How do you plan on getting more evidence?" I questioned, folding my arms across my chest. All of this seemed so unreal and foolish.

"Adam's house. His family was killed by our vampire," Ed explained, "you even told me that it looked like they were attacked by an animal."

"Ed, stop," I said, closing my eyes. The sight of Adam's dead sister, covered in blood and torn flesh appeared in my mind.

"Sorry," he apologized, "but we need to check out their house and figure out why they were targeted."

"_We_?" my eyes snapped open, and I gave my friend a look, "I'm not going into their house ever again."

"Vanessa," he pleaded, "more people will die if we don't kill this fucking vampire."

"Then maybe you should call the police!" I nearly yelled.

"I can't!" Ed said, and I could hear the barely restrained shout in his voice, "they'll think it's crazy!"

"That's because it _is_!" I growled, finally losing my temper, "_vampires don't exist_!"

"Fuck it, then," he inhaled deeply, most likely to calm himself down, "why don't you go home and I'll go all by my shitty self, huh? Maybe the vampire will get me and you'll never ever fucking see me again because I'll be _dead_."

I sat there for a moment, and all I could think about was the pounding in my head and an intense compulsion to bite into something. I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing, counting to ten multiple times in my mind. Both of us were silent for a long time.

"I'll walk you home," Ed said, and I could hear the bitter tone, "it's dark out."

"No, it's okay," I protested, opening my eyes, "I'll go with you to Adam's house."

"Really?" my friend asked, and the bitter tone was replaced by a tired one.

"Yeah," I tried to give a smile, and made an attempt to be humorous, "I don't want you to become a vampire snack."

"Thanks," Ed rolled his eyes as he stood up from the couch, "I need to get some stuff."

"Like what?" I questioned from my spot on the couch.

"Stakes, crosses, garlic," he named off, "things like that."

"Why?" I narrowed my eyebrows, confused.

"Just in case our vampire pops up," my friend stated, and then headed upstairs to his room. He came back about five minutes later, carrying a bag where I assumed that all the things he had named before were in.

"Finally ready?" I asked, standing up and stretching. Ed nodded his head and we both headed out the door.

"Let's cut through some houses," he suggested, "it'll be quicker."

"Ugh," I groaned, "fine. If I fall down a fence, it's your fault."

"Fair enough," he shrugged. We began to walk through houses, and when it came to the part of hopping over fences, Ed had to go up first and help me up after. The fences were a little tall for me to be jumping over unassisted. When we made it to Adam's house, Ed spotted the dog door. Kneeling down, I saw him crawl through the small door until he disappeared into the house. A second later, the back-door opened and I walked in.

"I hope... that they cleaned everything up," I mumbled, not wanting to see dried blood on the floor.

"They probably did," Ed assured me, "it needs to be clean if they want to resell the house."

The first thing that I noticed when I walked inside was that the furniture and belongings of Adam's family were still there. I was sort of surprised because I thought that they would have removed everything after about three months of the family's death. In alot of movies, I noticed that when the characters were searching for something, they always split up, but we didn't do that. We stayed together and searched the house.

I was thankful to find that the house had indeed been cleaned, for when I walked into the room of Adam's sister, there was no dried blood on the carpet. Once we cleared the first floor, Ed decided to go to the second floor. We went into Adam's room first, and as I looked around, I noted that his room was extremely cluttered. How were we supposed to find anything of use?

"Hey, over here," I heard Ed call, and when I turned to him, he was sitting in a seat in front of a laptop. I assumed that because he and Adam were friends, Ed knew the password to the computer. He was watching a video, but I had to walk closer to see what it was about. As I watched the video, it took me a few moments to realize what was going on. Adam had recorded multiple videos, one of someone driving a truck, another of someone opening and shutting their house door, another of someone washing their dishes. The only thing odd about these videos was that the person wasn't visible, so it looked like the truck was driving itself, the door opening itself, the dishes washing themselves.

"Holy shit..." I swore.

"Vampires don't appear in mirrors, pictures, and videos," Ed explained, though he really didn't need to, "is this enough proof for you?"

I didn't respond as the videos replayed themselves over and over again. Sure, there was evidence of a vampire, but who the fuck was it?

**A/N: Peoples, please review! Reviewing is one of the greatest things you can do for an author of a fanfic!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT. D: At first I didn't update because the chapter I had originally written I didn't like, and then I re-wrote it THREE TIMES. This is the third one :) This is the hardest chapter I've had to write so far D:**

******To Ralai, Nirvana14, BethyXstar, Lara F, Ashley, Amber, and evilspoofauthor1Sven**, thank-you for your reviews and your patience!**  
**

**Ralai: Remember the scene where they show all the houses in the beginning of the movie? They ALL look the same xD **

**Lara F: I always try to add a little spice to Jerry's dialogue :3****  
**

**Bethyxstar: He can't accept your proposal cause he's married to me, sorry. LOL  
**

**Ashley: Hey, Jerry drinks beer! I assume he would occasionally eat raw meat on a plate xD As for the truck, alot of people own the exact kind of vehicle, so even if Vanessa did recognize it, who's to say it belongs to Jerry?**

"Shit. I don't recognize the truck or house..." Ed complained, and then turned to me, "do you?"

I shook my head slowly, "it's too dark for me to tell."

Adam had shot the video in the dark. He had to, as he was recording a vampire, and we all know that vampires don't wander around in daylight. Even if the video had been in the daytime, so many houses in our neighborhood looked the same. It would take weeks to find the house that Adam had recorded. The same went for the truck, as well. Alot of people drove trucks, and in the dark, it was difficult to tell what the type or color was.

"I think we should leave..." I spoke, looking out a window into the dark of the night. I didn't want to be outside after dark now that I knew a vampire was wandering around at night.

"Yeah, let's go," Ed agreed, but before he stood up from the computer, he plugged in a USB and transfered the videos onto it.

"I think you should sleep over my house," I suggested, "my house is closer, and I don't want you to walk home alone."

"Thanks," my friend gave a small smile, pushing his glasses back up to sit properly on the bridge of his nose.

As we headed to my house, we walked at a faster pace than usual, and walked in the streets, under the lamp-posts, rather than through yards. We made it to our destination in ten minutes, and by then it was nearly ten o'clock. Ed suddenly stopped moving as we walked up the driveway, and I curiously turned to him. He was staring at Jerry's truck which sat in his own driveway.

"What?" I asked, stepping next to him.

"The truck," he started, and then explained, "it's like the one in the video."

I eyed Jerry's truck for a moment, "yeah, it is..."

"Maybe we should check it out or something..." Ed contemplated, and took a few small steps closer to the vehicle.

Even though I knew that a real vampire was running around, I still had to roll my eyes. Jerry, a vampire?

"At night, Ed?" I questioned. If we were going to play detective and try to find a vampire, it would be best to do it in the daytime.

"Fuck, good point," Ed told me, and then we walked inside my house. Jane was already in bed because the next day was Monday and she had work, and I assumed that Charley was upstairs. Ed asked me if Jane would mind him sleeping over, and I said no, that as long as he slept on the couch, then she would be fine.

I gave Ed a spare blanket and pillow, and as I walked down into the basement, I was reminded of the wine bottle that I said I would return to Jerry. What kept me from returning it to him right then was Ed's small accusation of Jerry, and the fact that it was dark out. I plopped down on the air-mattress and stared at the bottle of wine. My mind wandered to the strange thickness of the liquid, and how amazing it tasted. I felt my mouth begin to salivate, along with an aching in my teeth that I was oddly becoming familiar with.

I jerked myself away, both physically and mentally, from the bottle. I laid my head on my pillow, and pulled my blankets over my body. It took a while for my blankets to warm up, but eventually it felt like I was nestled in a warm cocoon. I would have loved to fall asleep, but I wasn't feeling overly tired. I closed my eyes, thinking that it would help me sleep, but it didn't. Opening my eyes to check the time, I found that an hour had passed. This continued well into the night until I could hear the annoying chirping-sound that birds made. I found myself finally becoming tired, and my eyes closed just as I glimpsed sunlight coming in through the small windows of the basement.

I was rudely awakened by someone clapping their hands very loudly in my face. I discovered this person to be Ed when I peeked one eye open.

"What?" I said in a rough and tired voice. What was so important that Ed had to wake me up?

"Oh, well, I _was_ going to tell you that I bought us both tickets to go see Peter Vincent, but-"

Ed wasn't able to finish his sentence because I shot from my layers of blankets and pillows and interrupted him with, "really?!"

"Yeah, but because you're being so _rude_ to me, I might have to go by myself," Ed said, attempting to speak with a snotty persona. He even held his head up and looked down his nose at me. In response to this, I pushed his shoulders backwards and he stumbled until he fell on the floor.

"Not cool, man," my friend stated, and picked himself up from the ground. I shrugged my shoulders with a smile.

"When is it?" I asked, and started to head upstairs into the kitchen.

"It's tomorrow at six," Ed answered, following behind me, "I bought them on Friday, but kept forgetting to tell you."

"Sweet," I replied, and then opened the door to the fridge and looked around. It was no surprise when I found nothing that I wanted to eat. I turned back around to face Ed.

"So, what are we going to do while we're there?" I questioned, and leaned against the counter-top.

"Well, I definitely want to watch the show," Ed started, and continued, "but after it's done, I'm thinking we sneak past security and show Peter Vincent the video."

"Sounds like a plan," I responded, and then made us both a plate of eggs and toast. Even though I was hungry, I had to shove the food down my throat and gagged each time the taste touched my tongue. To be honest, I was becoming rather annoyed by my lack of an appetite. After eating, Ed went home to change.

My thoughts turned to Jerry when I happened to look out the window and see his truck. This reminded me of returning the wine and of Ed's comment about the vehicle. I shook my head and grabbed the bottle of wine from the basement and headed over to Jerry's house.

Once I was on the porch, I knocked on Jerry's door, and as I waited, I observed the dumpster. I vaguely remembered that when I first moved in with my aunt, he had a dumpster, but he must have gotten rid of it soon after. I wondered what he was working on this time for him to have gotten another one. Distantly, I thought about how Jane would hate it because she was a Realtor. Eye-sores lowered the value of houses and property.

When he didn't answer the door, I knocked again. After waiting for a few seconds, I hesitantly grabbed the handle on the door and turned it. To my surprise, it turned all the way and I was able to open the door.

The inside of his house was dark due to the windows being painted over in black, but my eyes adjusted after a few moments. I went over my options in my head: one, I could just put the wine on the table and leave, or two, I could have a closer look around to see if Ed's accusation of Jerry was true, or three, just leave. I went with option two, though I was sure Jerry was clean of being anything vampire-like.

When I stepped through the doorway, I mentally felt something push against me. It was a rather uncomfortable feeling, and all I wanted to do was leave the house. Shutting the door behind me, I ignored the sensation and forced myself to walk farther. I knew the house by heart because I had lived in it when I was a child with my mother, but I had only been in it once or twice with Jerry as the owner.

I considered turning a light on, but I could easily see through the dark, and I also didn't want to leave any evidence that I had been in his house behind. I walked into the mostly empty living-room, taking in the few pieces of furniture and the undecorated walls. My eyes skimmed over the coffee-table, searching for anything suspicious-looking. When I found nothing, I continued my way into the kitchen.

When I approached the fridge, I noticed that there was nothing on it. No pictures, no magnets, nada. From the lack of photographs in the house, I was beginning to think that Jerry had no immediate family. That, or he wasn't on good terms with them at the moment. I opened the refrigerator door, and I didn't know why because what was there to hide in a fridge besides food and drinks?

All I found was a pack of beer and a few apples, which I found odd. I checked the freezer, thinking that perhaps that was where he kept his food, but I found nothing in there, as well. _Maybe he eats out alot?_ Closing the freezer, I quietly began to search through the drawers beneath the counter-top. The first one had some silverware, the next few contained random junk, the next had some tools, and as I opened the last one, I saw a single glove and what looked to be a collar.

Curious, I set down the wine that I forgot to put in the fridge on the counter-top and pulled out the two items from the drawer. The collar had a name-tag, and I was surprised to find that I could read the writing in the dark. It read '_Apple_.' I narrowed my eyes. Why did Jerry have this? Apple went missing, it couldn't have been Jerry who did it... right? I turned my attention to the glove.

It was a black leather glove that was definitely too small to fit Jerry's hand. I wondered why it seemed so familiar, and as I examined it more, I discovered why. It was my glove that went missing three months ago. I raised my left hand, and stared at the two healed puncture wounds on my palm. Originally, I thought that it looked like needles had pierced my skin, but now all I saw were bite marks. Vampire bite marks.

My stomach clenched, and I felt like vomiting when I remembered whose house I was in. _Oh my God,_ I thought, my mind beginning to swirl, _Jerry's the fucking vampire. _

I had to get out.

Turning around, I stumbled in my rush to get to the door, and just as I was about to grab the handle, I was painfully slammed up against the wall.

"Why, hello Vanessa," Jerry hissed, and I felt like my heart was going to explode from my chest.

"J-Jerry, please," I begged, and struggled to tug his hands from me, "l-let me go."

He ignored my plea and only tightened his grip, "why are you here?"

My eyes quickly searched around the room for an excuse until they landed on the forgotten wine on the counter-top, "the wine! I was bringing back the wine! Let me go!"

He bared his teeth at me, and I saw his fangs for the first time. The image of Adam's dead sister ripped into my mind, and I once again remembered her bloody and mangled form. Was that going to happen to me? I felt pure fear shiver down my spine at the thought.

"_Don't lie to me_," was the deep growl that left his mouth, and I jumped from the sound of it.

"You were spying on me," he accused, and when I shook my head to deny it, he gave a cruel smile, "yes, you were."

"You can't kill me," I stated, breathing heavily, "I know what you are, and if I go missing, Ed will know, too."

"No, Vanessa, I know what _you_ are," Jerry whispered sadistically, "a _murderer_."

"SHUT UP!" I screamed, and clawed at his hands to let go. I watched in horror as the deep scratches I inflicted on his skin healed within less than a second.

His lips formed a sly grin, "do you honestly think I care if you know what _I_ am? You can't bring me down, without bringing yourself down. I've had you trapped the moment you committed murder, Vanessa, you just didn't know it."

"What do you mean?" I asked with wide eyes, afraid of his answer. My mind couldn't think straight enough to connect the dots.

He stared at me, and I only noticed just then that his eyes were completely black, "did you ever wonder what I did with your bloody clothes, Vanessa?"

"You... you kept them?" I said, my eyebrows furrowing together in confusion, "why?"

I could have sworn I saw Jerry roll his eyes, but it was hard to tell when there was no white. He suddenly eased up from pinning me to the wall, and I let a shaky breath of relief leave my lips, but it was short-lived when Jerry grabbed my arm and threw me across the floor. I skidded on the ground until I roughly bumped into the back of his couch. I attempted to get up, but in the blink of an eye, he was kneeling over me, preventing me from standing.

"If you try to interfere," Jerry began in a threatening tone, "you might find yourself in trouble with the police, or worse, with me. Everyone will know what you did."

"I don't care," I said, trying to put on a brave face, but it was a hard thing to do with a vampire baring his teeth at me.

"I hate to say it, Vanessa," he sighed, like he was disappointed, "but you're a coward. You'll do anything to protect yourself, even if means resorting to murder."

I flinched at his harsh words, "that's not true."

"You think so?" he gave me a knowing smile, "have you forgotten what you did to Tom?"

"It was an accident..." I said pathetically, trying to look anywhere but at the man in front of me. Could I even call him a man anymore? All I saw now was an animal hungrily waiting to rip my throat out.

"Too much of a coward to face the truth, hm?" Jerry continued, and stood up. I blinked once, and then he was holding the wine.

"Have you been enjoying my blood?" he shook the bottle a few times, and I heard the liquid splashing around.

I froze. _What_?

"What...?" I dumbly asked, and watched as he turned the bottle upside-down and let the contents spill on the wooden floor in front of me. Once the blood hit the floor, it splashed in all directions, getting on my face and clothes, and on Jerry's shoes and pants. I raised a hand and touched my face, and when I pulled it away, I saw blood running down my finger tips. I started to shake.

"What... _what did you do to me_?!" I screamed. I attempted to stand up, but I slipped on the blood and ended up falling in the puddle.

"Do you want to borrow my shirt again?" Jerry mocked with a sneer.

I stumbled my way to the front door, dragging the blood across the floor as I did so. I expected my neighbor to prevent me from leaving, but he just watched as I grabbed the handle of the door. It took a few tries for me to open because my hands were covered in blood, and they kept slipping whenever I tried to get a grip. I heard Jerry cruelly laugh at my panic and desperation. When it finally opened, my eyes were attacked by the brightness of the sun.

I ignored it and ran across the driveways, thinking, _fuck him. He can shut his own door._ I subconsciously knew that the small humor was an attempt to avoid thinking about the blood. When I opened the door to my own house, I heard someone swear.

"Shit, what the fuck happened to you?" came Charley's voice, and he stood up from his spot on the couch to approach me.

"Leave me alone," I demanded, and ran downstairs. Locking the door that led to the basement, I sat down on the stairs and sobbed.

**A/N: Sooooo, what do you think? Worth the wait, or no? :D**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Ralai, Lara F, Ashley, and Valiuch, I thank you for your reviews! :3 I only wish that others would follow your examples and leave a review, especially the ones who have put my story on StoryAlert. It's like going to a restaurant, eating the food, and then leaving without paying for your dinner.**

**So, what can I do to encourage everyone to review? **

**I'm not going to do that "I'M NOT GOING TO UPDATE UNTIL I HAVE 5 REVIEWS," thing because I hate when authors do that. It's not fair to the readers who DO review.**

**BTW, if this chapter seems a little choppy, let me know. I wrote a third of it about two weeks ago, a third a week ago, and the rest today.  
**

**Be warned, there is more swearing than usual in this chapter, with mentions of suicide and religion.**

After my tear-fest, I tried my best to calm down and think straight, but all I could think of was...

I drank his blood.

I drank a fucking _vampire's_ blood.

What did that make _me_?

"Vanessa?" Charley called from behind the locked door. I heard the handle jiggle a few times, and I knew he was trying to open the door, "are you alright?"

_I'm covered in blood, what the fuck do you think?_

"I'm fine, Charley," I murmured loud enough for him to hear, "I..."

There was no excuse I could think of in that moment that would explain being covered in blood.

"What happened?" my cousin continued to ask questions, "do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No," I snapped from my spot on the stairs, "go away."'

Eventually, I heard his footsteps walk away from the basement door, and I felt myself release a soft sigh. I didn't need anyone bothering me. When I looked down at my clothes, I saw the dried blood and distantly wondered how long I had been sitting on the steps. Deciding to take a shower to rinse the filth off me, I grabbed some clean clothes and unlocked the door that led into the kitchen. As I walked through the living-room to go upstairs, I noticed blood on the carpet, and as I glanced back into the kitchen, I realized it was there, too.

I must have dragged the blood into my house when I ran out of _his_.

I groaned when I realized that I would have to explain why there was so much blood to Jane. That, or clean it up in the few hours before she would be home. I would have to talk Charley into not telling his mom anything. After staring at the mess on the floor, I went upstairs and took a shower. When I was done, I couldn't help but feel so _clean_. So free of sin.

I knew this was a lie, though, and pushed the dark thoughts away.

By then, it was five o'clock, and my mind kept drifting to the man next door. I knew his secret, and he knew mine. Memories from when I stabbed the pencil through Tom's throat flashed whenever I closed my eyes. Jerry had said I was a bad person, that I had wanted him dead. I believed him then, and I sort of still did. The fact that I didn't regret taking his life was proof enough. He said I was a coward mere hours ago, and my mind raced. Was it true?

I still hadn't called the police yet.

Excuses ran through my mind. They wouldn't believe me. They would think I was nut-job, and send me to a crazy house. Jerry would tell them what I did, and show them the evidence. So many different scenarios went through my head that I had to stop thinking.

_You wouldn't have to worry_, a voice whispered in my head, _if you just kept quiet._

I tried my best to ignore that voice.

Two hours later, I had cleaned any blood stains on the floor and was currently sitting quietly on the couch, watching Charley play his video games. I would have played it with him, but I wasn't in the greatest of moods. I suddenly heard a few knocks on the back door, and I looked at my cousin. I expected him to get up and get it, but it seemed that he was too absorbed into the game to notice the knocking. With a grumble, I got up from the couch and opened the door. I came face to face with the _last_ person I ever wanted to see again.

Jerry fucking Dandridge.

I nearly pissed my pants in fright.

"Hi there, darling," he greeted smoothly, as if he hadn't just ruined my life a few hours ago.

My first reaction was to slam the door in his face and run further inside the house where it was safe, but then I recalled that vampires couldn't get in without invitations. I kept my bitter smile to myself.

"What the hell do you want?" I snapped at him, confident in my knowledge that he couldn't reach me.

"That's no way to treat, well... a blood relative, wouldn't you say?" his lips formed a sly smile.

"I am _not_ related to you in anyway, shape, or fucking form," I hissed, my jaw clenching in anger.

He shook his head at me, like he was amused by something, "we are bound by blood, Vanessa, and nothing will ever change that. The moment you took my blood into your body, it invaded your very soul. Should I ever die, you will remain as you are now, a monster, I suppose, and your soul will be shredded into pieces. Ah, but don't fear, you'll still be alive, but by that point, there would be no point in living."

"I would kill myself if it ever came to that," I stated in a cold voice.

"Don't lie to yourself, Vanessa," Jerry told me, his face serious, "you're too cowardly to kill yourself."

"If there's no point in living," I snarled angrily, "then why would I want to stay alive?"

"Oh, so you think you can just die and that's it?" he questioned bitterly, "do you know what happens to people like us if we happen to die?"

I stared at him, not comprehending what he was getting at.

"We're vampires, Vanessa," he answered his own question when he saw that I wasn't going to, "we go to hell."

"What...?" I whispered slowly, shaking my head, not wanting to hear what he was saying.

Hell, a place of pain and suffering. Was my soul tainted when I took Tom's life, even when he had tried to take my own? Was I damned when Jerry decided to make me into a monster? I shook my head again, this time more violently. I didn't see the fairness it any of it. Why was I paying the price for other people's decisions?

"Why did you do this to me?" I begged, and then I screeched at him, "you could have chosen anyone! _ANYONE_!"

Jerry didn't have time to answer because the next thing I knew, a hand was pulling me back from the door.

"What's going on?" Charley demanded, finally noticing the talking near the back-door.

"Nothing," Jerry easily denied, "I just came over to ask for a few beers. I'm all out and I have a date later, mind lending a hand?"

My cousin stared at him, obviously not believing a word he said. I saw Charley move away from the door and open the fridge, taking out the six-pack of beer that Jane rarely touched. Jerry only gave something of a smile as my cousin harshly shoved the beers into his chest, which a normal person, a _human, _would have grunted from the force.

Then Charley shut the door in our neighbor's face, not caring at all if he was being rude. He turned to me, an angry look forming on his facial features, "what the fuck was all that about?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, trying to keep my face from showing both my anger and feelings of helplessness.

"Stop fucking around, Vanessa," my cousin told me, "what was that?"

I was quiet for a very long time. I was amazed that Charley had the patience to wait that long, but he must have seen some sort of distress on my face.

"You won't believe me," I said quietly.

"Try me," was his reply.

I looked Charley in the eyes, and told him slowly, "Jerry is a vampire, Charley."

I saw his eyebrow twitch, and I immediately knew he thought I was joking.

"Jerry, a vampire," he voiced, "that... that is a _terrible_ vampire name."

"Charley!" I yelled at him, shoving his shoulders, "what the _fuck_!"

My cousin shoved me back, "well, what do you expect me to say? That I believe you?!"

In my frustration at his lack of understanding, I felt my eyes begin to water, and I quickly rubbed them away.

Charley must have noticed because his face turned apologetic, "shit. I'm sorry, Vanessa."

I ignored him momentarily and wandered over into the living-room to sit on the couch. I slumped against the cushions and let a deep sigh, nearly a sob, escape through my lips. Pulling my legs up, I wrapped my arms over them and let my head fall onto the back of the couch.

"Why would I lie to you?" I tiredly asked as Charley sat down next to me, "I have no reason to."

"Well, you _have_ been hanging out with Ed," my cousin commented, "and you know how he is."

I lifted my head up, and glared at him, knowing what he was implying.

"Do you like your father, Charley?" I questioned, seemingly random.

"No, of course not..." my cousin said, probably wondering why I changed the subject.

"And why not?" I continued to ask.

He gave me a bitter look, "you already know why."

"Indulge me, then," I told him, and slowly clenched my fists.

"Why are you bringing this up?" Charley hissed at me, "you already know why! He's a fucking dick that abandoned his wife and kid! I fucking _hate_ him!"

"If you hate him so much, then why did you do _the exact same thing to Ed_!" I almost yelled, "you're _just_ like your dad, Charley! Leaving people behind when you see something better on the horizon!"

Suddenly the side of my cheek stung, and I realized that my cousin had just slapped me. I oddly didn't feel alot of pain, but then figured there probably wasn't a lot of things that could truly hurt me anymore.

"You're pissed off because you know it's true," I told him, holding my cheek. A moment later, Charley violently stood up from the couch, and I heard him stomp his way up the stairs, shutting the door loudly behind him. I remained on the couch, and once twenty minutes passed, Jane walked in the front door.

"Hi, Vanessa," she greeted with a tired smile, "is Charley at Mark's again?"

"No," I informed her, and then nodded my head to the stairs, "he's in his room."

"Oh, alright," she said, putting her stuff down near the couch, "I know it's a little late, but I'm going to start dinner."

Jane walked into the kitchen and started to pull stuff out of the cabinets and fridge. I decided to stand up, and when I stepped into the kitchen, I noticed she was making pasta. My mouth formed an unnoticeable frown, remembering the last time I ate pasta. I was at Ed's, and I hadn't really eaten anything on the plate his mother had made for me.

Unfortunately, at that time I hadn't known what I was, or what Jerry was turning me into. I knew what I was now, though. What was I supposed to eat? I could eat meat, but then I remembered all those times I had felt a thirst, a hunger, and blood came to mind. I didn't want to drink blood.

"You okay?" my aunt asked, placing her hand on my shoulder. I jumped a little and realized that I must have zoned out.

"Yeah," I voiced, "I'm... fine."

A little while later, Jane was finished making dinner and called my cousin down from his room. As we sat down, we didn't say anything to each other, and most of the talking was left to my aunt. She must have noticed our behavior, though, because she commented on it.

"Are you two alright?"

When I saw that Charley wasn't going to say anything, I spoke, "yeah. We just had a little argument earlier..."

I could see Jane's eyes light up in curiosity, but she wisely decided not to ask what our argument was about, which I was thankful for. After eating, I washed everyone's dishes because my aunt had been working all day and then had made dinner for us. When I was done, my cousin walked up to me.

"I'm sorry for slapping you," he apologized, "I was just... really angry."

"That was a slap?" I smiled in acceptance of his apology, "didn't feel a thing."

He guiltily smiled back, but then it faded away.

"What?" I questioned.

"Turn around," he told me, "Doris just passed by the window."

I had to shift through my thoughts to remember that Jerry said he was having company come over later. Was Doris the company he was speaking of?

A second after thinking this, realization struck me like a brick to the head. Doris would die if she spent the night at Jerry's.

Without hesitation, I sprinted outside the house, intent on getting to Doris before Jerry opened his door to invite her inside.

"Doris!" I called her name when I saw she was waiting on his porch, "Jerry wanted me to tell you tha-"

"What did I want you to tell her?" Jerry questioned as he opened his door, a mocking smile on his face that I knew was meant for me.

Before I could respond, he motioned for Doris to step inside his house, and once she did, my neighbor turned back to face me.

"Nice try, darling," the vampire voiced with a smug look, and then shut the door.

With a sigh, I returned to my own house. I saw that Charley was by the window, and I assumed that he must have been watching what happened.

"Do you believe me now?" I asked, letting out a tired breath as I slumped down onto the couch.

"I don't know," my cousin started off, "Jerry _is_ a guy. Of course he's going to have a girl come over every once in a while..."

I rolled my eyes, and then sat up. I was determined to stay up through the night and lookout for any signs that Doris was in trouble.

"I need to use your room," I said to Charley, and then headed up the stairs.

"To keep an eye on Jerry?" he asked, following me. I could hear a subtle tone of sarcasm in his words.

"Yes, actually," I admitted, opening the door to his room. It was a bit messy, but it wasn't a big deal. I grabbed a chair and set it by the window that was facing Jerry's house.

"What are you expecting to happen?" Charley questioned, and I shrugged my shoulders in response.

"I don't know," I answered, and then noticed that he had also grabbed a chair and set it next to mine, "are you going to stay up with me?"

He nodded, and then we agreed to no talking. If we were going to watch and listen for anything, we couldn't be distracted.

Two hours later, my cousin had fallen asleep, but I was still awake due to my new... _disease_.

My thoughts and focus began to stray away from the task that I had set for myself. I wasn't completely a vampire, otherwise I would have... what? Burned, turned to ashes, turned into stone when I set foot out in the sun? My mind had trouble grasping the fact that I was a vampire, something that I always thought wasn't real. This fact turned my world upside down. It made me want to question everything I thought was real and unreal.

I would live forever. Years upon years until hundreds of years had passed me by. Everyone I knew would die, and then I would be alone. Could I handle that? I didn't think I could. I then thought about what happens after death. Before all this mess, I didn't know what to think. I was influenced by so many ideas that I didn't know which one was true. I knew the truth now.

In the end, I was going to hell because I was a vampire. Pain and suffering would be all I knew once I died, and it was all because of Jerry. Why did he decide to pick _me_ as the person he would pass on his curse to? I knew it was a horrible thought, but I couldn't help but wish he had picked someone else, _anyone_ else, but me. I was ashamed to think that if I had the opportunity, I would most definitely give the disease to someone else.

That was when I heard the scream.

**A/N: REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: How long has it been since the last update? About six weeks? Sigh. I feel so bad. D: All I have are lame excuses, so I won't share them...**

**Thank you to RTVampireKilljoy, Valiuch, Lara F, Ralai, Guest, rak, and Ashley for reviewing :) **

**I feel like this chapter is kind of a let down after waiting for six weeks because it's about 600 words shorter than I normally write, but I REALLY didn't want to keep you guys waiting anymore. I wrote for five hours straight today, just so ya know, and 85% of this chapter was also written today. See how hard I worked for you wonderful readers? :D**

**But yeah, SO SORRY for the inconsistent updates!**

The suddenness of the scream made me jump from my chair, and to my left I saw Charley do the same.

"Was that... Doris?" my cousin asked, forcing himself to his feet to stand by the window.

"I think so," I answered, furrowing my eyebrows together in worry. I didn't want anyone getting hurt over something that I could have prevented.

A moment later Charley had his phone out, his fingers gliding over the numbered digits.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, eyes wide.

"Calling the police!" he responded, giving me a look as if to say 'what else?'

"No! You can't do that!" I nearly yelled, panic seeping its way into my voice. What if Jerry told them I had murdered Tom? What if he gave them my bloody clothes, evidence of my crime? I didn't want the police involved. Period.

I reached for Charley's phone before he could press dial.

"What are you doing, Vanessa?!" he said, pulling the phone away from me and out of my reach, "we have to call them! Doris might still be alive!"

"Well, maybe she's dead!" I tried, flinching at how the words sounded, "there's no point in calling the police if she's already dead, Charley."

"Besides!" I continued to speak, "what are the police going to do? To a vampire? At night and in his own home? He'd kill them, too."

My cousin lowered the phone, "maybe you're right... but we can't just leave her there!"

"I... I could go and get her-" I started, but he interrupted me.

"No, absolutely not," he stated, "if anyone's going, it'll be me."

"_Listen_," I demanded, "you didn't let me finish. I meant I would go get her if he ever left-"

Charley interrupted me again, "and if he doesn't leave, what then?"

"I... don't know," I mumbled.

We both stayed silent, but a moment later my cousin's voice broke through, "let's just hope he leaves. No use in being pessimistic in an already shitty situation."

I silently agreed with him and we both sat down, keeping our eyes on Jerry's house and his truck.

Meanwhile, my thoughts wondered off. Jerry made me some sort of vampire, so why would he be killing everyone else? Maybe my and Ed's information was wrong. I mean, I knew it wasn't _completely_ wrong, he did kill Adam and his family. But why not change them instead?

If this was true, and Jerry's intention wasn't to kill people, then _why_ was he killing them? All of those people couldn't have possibly gotten an idea in their head that a vampire was stalking the night and decided to spy on him. This brought up the thought about those he didn't kill... people like me. Were there other vampires that were like me? Part monster, but there still remained some humanity left in them?

Did I even have any humanity left?

_I'm helping Doris_, supplied one part of my brain, while the other part snarled out, _barely_.

I let a shaky sigh leave my mouth, and from the corner of my eye I noticed Charley giving me an odd look.

I didn't bother to say anything, too caught up in my own tangled thoughts.

The next thing I knew, my cousin was drumming his fingers over my shoulder, gaining my attention. He motioned with his chin to the window, and as I looked out, my gaze caught Jerry pulling himself into his truck.

"Why is he leaving?" I muttered, "he must know that we've been watching..."

"Maybe all the evidence is gone by now," Charley said in a quiet voice, probably disturbed by this train of thought, "it _has_ been a while since Doris went inside."

I swallowed tightly, and once Jerry's truck disappeared down the road, I said, "let's go."

Five minutes later, we were both ready. My black hair was tied back with an elastic band to keep it from getting in my line of sight, and I was also wearing a light jacket due to the somewhat cool temperatures of the night. Charley, on the other hand, was holding his phone in one hand and something that looked like bobby-pins in the other.

"Those yours?" I said, giving a cheeky smile. I suspected the humor was from nervousness.

"No," he scowled, "they're mom's, and they're for picking the lock on his door."

Another few minutes later, we were crouched on the ground outside of the back door to Jerry's house. Charley was looking up instructions on his phone on how to pick locks, and I could feel what was left of my human heart beginning to pound from anticipation. This would be... what, the fourth time I've been inside his house? It was around that number, and the first two or so times I had been invited, but the most recent one I had not been. I paused at that thought. Didn't vampires have those laws, like the laws of physics? No garlic, no sunlight, sleeping during the day, and no entering someone's house without permission?

Maybe it didn't affect me because I wasn't completely a vampire yet. I had been outside in the sun a bunch of times since I started drinking the wi- his blood. I had begun to notice a rash that appeared a few times, and I also remembered sleeping well into the day. I also remembered not finding any of the food in the house to be... satisfactory. Like the pizza and pasta. Speaking of which, when was the last time I had really eaten anything?

My stomach growled, and then my teeth immediately ached. I clenched my jaw once I felt the urge to just... _rip_ my teeth into something.

_What a wonderful feeling to have when going into a vampire's house_, I bitterly thought.

That was when I heard the lock to the door click, and I patted Charley on the back in praise despite the act being something not to encourage.

My cousin opened the door and quietly walked in, and I followed behind him. A heavy weight settled on my shoulders the moment I stepped past the frame of the door, and it was heavy enough that I had to stop and take a few deep breaths. I was instantly reminded of the small pressure I had felt when I had entered Jerry's house earlier. Perhaps I was affected in more ways than I had originally thought.

"Doesn't look anything like what it used to," he commented, referring to when I was living here with my mother, and also possibly to the Perrymans who lived there after us.

"I know," I replied, and then stopped breathing when we made our way into the living-room. For some reason, I expected the blood that Jerry had poured from the wine bottle onto the wooden floors to still be there. Luckily, it wasn't. Then I supposed he would have had to clean it up if Doris was going to come over. Couldn't have her freaking out ahead of time, could he?

We circled around the living-room back into the kitchen, and from there I saw the empty wine bottle sitting on the counter. I narrowed my eyes at it and turned away.

"If you were a killer," Charley began, "where would you hide someone?"

_I already am a killer_, I thought silently, "in the basement, or maybe in the attic."

"Well... let's check upstairs first," he responded, and I heard a note of hesitation in his voice. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel the same way. I didn't want to be anywhere near this house, and I definitely didn't want to go wandering through its basement and attic.

I felt a sense of nostalgia touch me as we started up the stairs. The last time I had walked up these stairs was when I was grabbing my things to go live with Dave. The feeling that stood out from my memories the most at that moment in time was pain. Pain from my mother leaving me, pain for leaving the life I had lived for so long behind, pain for leaving the comforts of my childhood home. At that moment, and many times before, I wondered what my life would have been like if my mother had lived past the age of 35.

I most likely would have never met Dave, my father, and that thought didn't sit well with me. Then again, I had never met him as a child, and so I would never have missed him in the first place. I had my mother, and that was all that really mattered to me.

We walked through one room, and seeing nothing of interest, moved onto the next one. This is where things got interesting. The windows were covered in black paint, not unlike the rest of the house, but there seemed to be something... malicious about this place. We separated from each other to wander through the room. I assumed it was Jerry's room from the bed, and from all the other seemingly personal trinkets and things, and I barely held back my bitter surprise at finding no coffin. Didn't vampires sleep in coffins?

"Vanessa, do you see all this?" Charley questioned, eyes wide.

"I do believe I have eyes," I answered, and picked up a pendant I saw lying on a desk. I examined it for a moment before placing it back down, and that was when I saw the bright flash of light go off. Turning to face Charley, I saw him holding up a camera, taking pictures.

"What are you doing?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows together. We were here to get Doris, not to enjoy the scenery.

"Gathering evidence," he replied simply.

"Seems to be alot of that lately," I said, thinking of the videos Adam had, the map of the neighborhood that Ed drew, and my bloody clothes that Jerry still held captive. I stopped what I was doing at that thought. What if-

What if I found them?

He wouldn't be able to use it against me anymore.

I was just about to start a very intense search when I heard Charley swear.

"Fuck," the harsh staccato word fell from his lips, "he's back."

"What?!" I nearly yelled, whipping my head around to face a window. Through the cracks of black paint, I saw what Charley said to be true.

All of a sudden, we heard the downstairs door open and then slam shut. I stared at my cousin, frozen to the spot where I was standing.

"_Hide, find somewhere to hide!_" Charley rapidly whispered, his head snapping in different directions. Finally his eyes landed on the closet behind him, and he motioned for me to come with him. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for both of us to hide.

"You stay here," I ordered through my anxiety, and I looked around, my eyes and mind working double time.

My gaze fell on the bed, and without thinking, I scurried over and crawled my way beneath it. I curled into myself and pushed with my legs until my back met the wall, desperately trying to stay away from the edges of the bed. I felt safe, but only as safe as hiding under a bed in a monster's house could get.

That was when I heard footsteps quietly marching up the steps.

I held my breath momentarily and shakily breathed it out, trying to be as quiet as possible. To try and relax, I laid my cheek on the cold wooden floor and closed my eyes. Just as the soft steps continued their way up the stairs, the anxiety and fear continued to scratch at my mind and emotions. I couldn't relax; the cold floor stung my cheek, my eyes kept flickering open in an attempt to keep my awareness up, and I knew my breathing was too loud.

I brought my arm up to my mouth and breathed through my jacket, glad to find that it muted the heavy sounds of my breathing. Unfortunately, this came at the cost of not being able to breathe too well.

I saw the bottom of the door to the room quietly swing open, and it revealed two black shoes that were standing in the doorway. I once again stopped breathing when they stayed in their place, and I assumed that Jerry was examining his room, but for what I had no idea.

He didn't know we were in there... did he?

I watched as his shoes softly padded across the room until they eventually stopped near the desk I had been standing at when the flash of Charley's camera surprised me. I heard something clink against the wooden surface of the desk, and I guessed that he must have picked something up, or set something down.

When I heard him inhale deeply, I pressed my back against the wall harder. He was smelling us out, just like a bloodhound.

I listened as another clinking sound was made, and that was when sadistic chuckling met my ears.

I watched as his feet turned, and my exact thought was_, he's going to find me._

He was going to find me, and what then? He had warned me on multiple occasions. Perhaps he would kill me fast, perhaps it would be slow. Maybe he would drink every last drop of blood in my body until my skin began to deflate. Maybe-

My body tensed up, ready to flee when all of a sudden, instead of walking towards the bed, his feet headed towards the closet.

Towards Charley.

My mind blanked for a moment. _What?_

I made a quiet gasp.

His feet instantly stopped moving.

The next thing I knew, Jerry was crouching above me. He must have grabbed my feet and slid me out from under the bed, because I could feel a lingering coldness on my skin by my ankles. My mouth opened a few times, but no words came out.

"Nice to see you, too, darling," Jerry spoke, his eyes blackening as they narrowed down at me.

**A/N: BTW, I did NOT listen to Phantom** **of the Opera while writing this... xD**

**And right before uploading this, I discovered Between Life and Death was put in a community! I got so excited!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: OMG. An update 6 days later?** **HOLY CRAP. I'M ON A ROLL!**

**Thank you to Ralai, guest, and Lara F for reviewing chapter 14 3**

The vampire tugged me up from my spot beneath him, gripping my forearms with his claw-like nails. I barely refrained from cringing as they slowly pierced into my skin. I looked up at his face, and despite the blackening color of his eyes, his face was still. He showed no emotion, and that scared the shit out of me.

There was always a calm before the storm.

"Are you here for Doris?" Jerry asked softly, giving me such an intense look that I desperately wanted to avert my eyes.

I didn't mean to, but my head moved a fraction of an inch, and the vampire gave something of a smile at the movement.

"How about I show you to her?" he continued gently, and then began to drag me towards the closet.

I panicked when I remembered that Charley was hiding in there, and so I pulled against the vampire's tugging. Unfortunately, he was stronger than I was and continued to lead me to the closet despite my resistance. I felt my expression crumble in on itself when he placed his hand on the door handle and pulled it open.

With one hand still holding my forearm, he used the other to push the clothes in the closet to the side. I let my eyes wander over the clothes, and was amazed to find he had police uniforms, military uniforms, doctor uniforms and more. I supposed that they must have been disguises to lull his victims into a false sense of security.

After all, who ever doubted a cop when they were in need? Certainly not a poor person whose car broke down on the side of the road, that's for sure.

I snapped my attention back to the present when I saw no sign of Charley, and the gratefulness I felt for Jerry not finding him overwhelmed my confusion on where he could have disappeared to. I was just glad my cousin was safe.

All of sudden, Jerry was opening another door at the back of the closet.

_A secret door_, I thought.

The vampire jerked me forward by my arm which he continued to hold, and then my eyes met a great whiteness. It was a white hallway with six doors total, three on each side, and I couldn't help but apprehensively wonder what was behind them.

Jerry continued forward until he was standing in front of the last door on the left. He took out a single key, and just before using it to open the door, he glanced at me with his black eyes. The corner of his mouth curled up into a cruel smile.

"When was the last time you fed, Vanessa?" the handsome man questioned, "yesterday? You must be hungry."

My teeth ached in response to his question, but I tried to ignore it.

Then he opened the door, and I saw Doris curled into a fetal position on the floor. Her hand was covering her neck, and I thought I spied blood smeared over the skin. Her make-up was smudge around her eyes and down her cheeks, and her lips were trembling. The dress she was wearing was ripped, and through the holes I could see bite marks with blooding slowly oozing out of them.

"Pl-please," she begged the vampire that was gripping my forearm, "let me go... please..."

I felt my legs go weak at her pleading and also at the sight of blood. Jerry must have sensed this because he let go of my arm. I fell backwards until my back hit the door opposite the one Doris was behind, and I let my body slip down until my bottom touched the floor. I sat there, and pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. My gaze wandered to her neck where the blood was smeared, and the aching in my teeth increased.

The vampire dragged her out of the small room and into the hallway, right in front of me, holding her in his pale arms like one would a lover. He moved her hair to the side, and pulled her hand from its place on her neck, baring her throat. I saw him lean in closer and inhale the blood at where the previous bite was made.

I flinched when I heard something of a snarl, and not a moment later I realized it had come from Jerry. He turned to face me, giving me an unpleasant view of his fangs and his black eyes. A chill creeped up my spine until goosebumps formed over every inch of my skin, and the aching in my teeth continued to increase to a level where I could barely tolerate it.

Then he gave a sharp chuckle, and that was when he rolled her head to the side and placed his lips, his teeth, on her neck. I heard the exact moment his fangs pierced into her skin, and then my mind blanked. Before I even knew what I was doing, I uncurled from my position and shoved Jerry away from Doris. Distantly, I heard her give a sob of relief, but it was gone the instant my own fangs sunk into her flesh.

The painful aching in my teeth immediately disappeared once they were clamped down, and I closed my eyes in complete bliss when the blood touched my tongue. My mind remained distant, but in a state of pure happiness. It was like the moments before falling asleep; barely awake and unaware of what was going on around you. I didn't know anything but the blood touching my tongue in that moment, and everything else was just... _unimportant_.

There could have been a fire raging on all around me, and I would have remained blissfully ignorant.

I swallowed the thick liquid that was oozing into my mouth with no troubled thoughts. All I could think of was how _good_ it felt, how _amazing_ it tasted. Jerry's blood from the wine bottle was cold, but Doris' blood, it was _warm_. The heat washed through my senses, and all that was left was a happy blankness.

Then reality came back.

Cold fingers grabbed at my neck, pulling me out of the delightful torment and away from the bleeding throat of Doris. A snarl clawed its way out of my mouth, and I snapped my teeth in Jerry's direction, nearly making contact with his fingers.

The vampire pulled his hand back at the last second, and gave a delighted grin.

I opened my mouth, but failed to form any coherent words. It seemed all I was capable of in this state was animal-like sounds.

I was breathing heavily due to my anger at being snatched away from my state of happiness and ignorance, and due to my dawning realization of what I had just done. It seemed like, for the first time, the human and vampire inside me were waging war against each other, and I was stuck in the middle, waiting to be claimed by the victor.

I felt weak, like I couldn't do anything. I began to shiver from a chill that pierced into my skin, and I began to sweat from an unpleasant warmness at the same time. I felt thirsty, but I couldn't be sure whether it was for more blood, or if it was for water.

Jerry once again brought me back to the present when his cold fingers gripped my chin and turned my face towards his.

"Are you finally feeling it?" he questioned, and gave a cruel smile at my distress, "the battle, the change?"

"I've been waiting, wondering when it would begin," the vampire continued, "most humans don't hold out this long like you did. Four days? Impressive. I only lasted two days until my change was complete, and most humans only last for a few hours."

A charming smile played on his lips.

"It's not the wait that's intriguing, though," he explained, his chilled fingers still holding my face towards his, "it's the actual change. Will you make the turn, or will you die? Only a few humans can handle the change, but the ones that can't tolerate it... well, they die."

"I fear Doris won't be one of the few to make it," he stated, giving a false frown of concern, and then smiled, "especially since you nearly killed her yourself just now."

Grabbing his hand, I dug my own claws into his skin, attempting to make him release me. His face remained passive with the little smile playing on the corner of his lips, like it didn't hurt him. His grip only tightened on my face which led to his sharp nails breaking the surface of my skin. A small sound of pain escaped my lips, and I felt blood dribble down my chin and down my throat.

I watched as his eyes followed the path of my blood, and to my surprise, he forced my face near his. His face leaned closer, but to the base of my neck instead of to my face, and I shivered when I felt his tongue traced the thick liquid back up my throat. His eyes were closed, his mind most likely stuck in the moment like I had been before. His fingers squeezed my chin with a bruising force, and then his mouth was on mine. His teeth pulled at my lips, spilling more of my blood with the viciousness of his bites.

I let go of his hand that was holding my chin, and instead pushed at his chest. His eyes opened, coming back to reality alot quicker than I had, and pulled away. He tilted his head ever so slightly, his eyes staring at me.

Then Jerry abruptly let go of me, and I fell backwards until my back once again hit the door behind me. The vampire stood up, looking down at my small form for a moment before his eyes drifted to Doris. I let my own eyes wander to her, and her eyes were barely open, her blood leaving her body little by little as her chest slowly moved up and down. She was ready to fall down into the hands of death, but was just holding onto life with the tips of her fingers. Just one step onto those fingers, or one slip, and she would be dead.

There was no way she was going to survive the change. Her body and mind wouldn't be able to handle it.

I saw movement out of the corner of my left eye, and as I turned my head just a bit, I saw Charley. He was hiding behind one of the white doors, and only a fraction of his face could be seen.

He heard and saw everything that had just happened.

I immediately felt nauseated, and felt the intense urge to throw up the blood that I had swallowed only minutes ago. While before it had tasted so amazing, now it only tasted unpleasantly vile.

The shivering and sweating and weakness from earlier came down upon me, and I was trapped beneath their heavy weight. My cousin just saw me embrace the monster lurking beneath my skin, both figuratively and literally.

My attention was drawn back to Jerry who had grabbed Doris and was dragging her back into the small white room. Blood was being smeared over the white tiles on the floor, but I doubt he cared. He walked back out and shut the door behind him, locking it. Turning to face me again, he crouched down on his heels and just watched me. I continued to feel sick and weak while my body shivered and felt too warm for comfort.

"You'll be a vampire the next time I see you," Jerry informed, the tone coming off as both wicked and proud.

A smirk played on his face, and then he stated, "we'll have to celebrate."

Standing back up, the vampire stepped away from me and walked down the hallway, leaving me to sit in the corner. My eyes watched as he closed the secret door behind him, but I heard no click of a lock. I distantly wondered why he didn't lock me up like Doris, but I didn't have the capacity to care at that moment.

A few seconds after the vampire left, Charley jumped out from behind the door he had been hiding behind. To my surprise, he kneeled right in front of me, saying, "are you alright?"

I shook my head.

I felt terrible.

My cousin had just seen me suck the blood from Doris' body like an animal with no conscious. My cousin had just found out I was a vampire. My cousin had just seen Jerry kiss me in a corrupted version of intimacy. To be honest, I thought my cousin should be running away from me.

I was still capable of being thankful for small mercies; Jerry had made no mention of my act of murdering Tom.

Charley gave me a pitying look until his eyes widened, "shit! Doris!"

He stood up and took out two bobby-pins from his pocket, putting them into the lock of the door that led into the room Doris was in. When it finally clicked open, my cousin hurried into the room. I watched as he shook Doris' shoulders, but she made no movement. He tried to check her pulse, and opened one of her eyes, and even tried lightly slapping her on the cheek.

"Shit, Vanessa," my cousin turned to me, "I think she's dead..."

He was quiet, and I wondered if Charley thought it was my fault.

"Vanessa," he started quietly, "how did this happen?"

I shrugged my shoulders pathetically. My head was beginning to hurt from an oncoming headache, and the shivering and sweating wasn't helping.

"Charley," I began as I felt tears forming in my eyes, "I want to go home."

"I know..." my cousin sighed tiredly, "let's go."

He came towards me and hauled me up, helping me put my arm around his neck for support. He walked me towards the hidden closet door, and once that was open, he pushed the clothes in the closet to the sides. I heard my cousin swear in annoyance.

"Shit, the sun's up," he told me, and as I lifted my head to look up, I spied sunlight coming through the cracks in the black paint on the windows.

What would happen if I went out into the sun this time? Jerry said the next time he saw me I would be a vampire. Did that mean I would be more sensitive to sunlight during the turning? I didn't know, but I pointed to Jerry's bed.

"Get the blanket," I said weakly, and my cousin did as I asked. He wrapped the dark blanket around me, and I hoped it would protect me from the sun.

As we approached the stairs that led to the first floor, Charley stopped and let go of me. I gave him a puzzled look, but he merely held a finger to his lips, indicating for me to keep silent. I pathetically nodded my head and leaned against the wall by the stairs, watching as my cousin slipped down the steps. From my spot, I could tell he was looking around for the vampire.

Then Charley came back up the steps and helped me stand again, "I didn't see him anywhere. I think we're safe to go."

"Alright," I agreed, my voice small. My cousin led me down the stairs, supporting most of my weight because I couldn't hold it myself with the state I was in. He walked me towards the front door, and right before opening it, he helped me pull the blanket over most of my body. Charley hesitated opening the door, but did so when I weakly nudged him.

The sunlight wasn't as strong on this side of the house because the sun was rising, and was at its brightest in the backyard. Taking a gamble, we stepped outside, and I half expected to burn, or turn to stone, or to ash on the spot. When no such thing happened, Charley confidently and quickly moved me across the lawn and driveways until we made inside our own house.

He shut the door behind us, and I fell onto the couch in the living-room. This relief was short lived when my cousin shook me by my shoulders.

"It would be better to be in the basement, yeah?" Charley questioned, and I nodded lamely.

Once again, my cousin helped me down the stairs to the basement. He even placed me on the air-mattress and started to put duct-tape on the windows to prevent them from letting light in.

"Thanks, Charley," I gave a small smile, and he returned it.

"It's no problem," he told me, "you just... lie down and rest, I guess."

I weakly nodded my head in agreement, and then he headed upstairs, shutting the basement door behind him.

The headache from earlier was still there, and my body was still shivering from being cold and sweating from being to warm. I closed my eyes and tugged the dark blankets around me closer to my body. It was just as I was falling asleep that I realized I was surround by Jerry's blankets, but by then it was too late.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Alright, who wants to kill me? Three months with no update? Damn. I just want to let you know that I never _ever_ thought about abandoning this story. I never went more than three or four days without thinking about Between Life and Death. I'm not sure what pulled me to it just recently, but it was probably the reviews that I sometimes look over C: See! Reviews are important! (I'm also in a vampire roleplay on Gaia, so that might be part of the reason, too...) I probably won't get too many after a three months' absence, though, and the majority of you don't review anyway :c**

**Chapters should be password locked, and to read the next chapter, you need to review the previous one. xD LOL. I'm cruel, aren't I? BUT COME ON. Out of the 26-ish of you that favorited/watched, I only get 4 or 5 reviews on average :C**

**Big thanks to Lara F, DecemberSnowfall, Nemo, and the guest for reviewing! I loves you.**

**Also, I wrote 2/3 of this right after chapter 15 which was updated 3 months ago, and the last 1/3 of it today, so if there's any discrepancies, PLEASE let me know. I'm also slightly afraid my writing might not be up to par with my previous chapters, having been away for a few months :c**

**000**

I heard them before I saw them.

"Charley, what happened?" my aunt's voice penetrated the silence, "has she been sick all day?"

I felt someone's hand touch my forehead.

"I think so," was my cousin's reply.

One of my eyes slipped open to see Jane looking down at me with a small frown.

"This looks serious..." she said, and then began walking upstairs, "I'm going to call our doctor."

The door shut behind her gently, and that was when Charley spoke to me.

"I don't know if calling a doctor is a good idea," he started, "what with your... vampire-ness and everything."

I remained silent for a moment.

"Is the blood still on me?" I asked weakly, and lifted my hand to touch my chin. I felt no dried substance, and when I pulled my hand back there was no evidence of blood.

"I washed it off before she came down," he explained, "but I couldn't explain the bruises... or the scar on your neck and hands."

"She saw those?" I sighed tiredly despite probably having slept for many hours.

"Yeah..." he replied, "Vanessa, I'm sorry to say this, but you look like shit."

I gave a small smile, "I feel like shit."

It was true. The shivering from before had increased, I could feel the sweat lingering on my skin, and I felt so weak that all I could do was lay on the mattress. My head felt too heavy for my shoulders to carry, so I let my pillow cradle it. The only good thing that had happened was that my headache had vanished.

"Do you want any water? Mom always tells me to drink water when I'm sick," my cousin spoke, and then sat down in front of my bed.

"I don't think water will help, Charley," I gave a weak laugh.

"I didn't think so, either," he informed me, "but it was worth a try, I think."

Neither of us spoke for a long while, but the silence was finally ended by Charley.

"Where did you get the scars?" he questioned quietly, "from Jerry?"

I shook my head, "I got them before I ever met Jerry."

"Then from who?" he tried again, "a few of them are cigarette burns, and I know your mom smoked..."

"My mom didn't abuse me, Charley," I snapped at him.

"I'm sorry, I jus-"

I interrupted him, "if you were really sorry, then you would stop asking."

Immediately after snapping at him, I felt a little guilty. It wasn't Charley's fault that I had the scars or any of my other problems. He was only showing his concern, after all.

"What time is it?" I asked as my body shivered, trying to change the topic.

"It's four o'clock," my cousin told me, "and Ed called me when you didn't answer your phone. He said that he's picking you up at six."

_Oh, yeah. The Peter Vincent show._

I wondered if he was a real vampire killer. If he wasn't, then he was just some show off. If he really was, then would he recognize me as a vampire? Would he kill me the moment he laid eyes on me? I observed my shaking hands for a moment, and also wondered if I was in any condition to go.

When I finally turned, would I feel any different? Would I be able to control myself from attacking anyone?

My bad experience with Doris said no, and I wasn't even a complete vampire when that happened. Would the urge become more difficult to resist? Come to think of it, I hadn't resisted at all. I hadn't even noticed I was drinking her blood until after Jerry pulled me from her.

"Are you going to tell him?" my cousin questioned.

"Who, Ed? That I'm a vampire?" I responded, pulling the dark blankets closer around me when a particularly cold chill swept up my back, "of course not."

"What happens if he finds out?" Charley asked me.

"Let's hope he doesn't," I said in a small voice.

A moment later, I decided to get ready. I might have felt like shit, but I needed my questions answered.

I took a shower, and the hot water felt amazing against the chills that constantly attacked my skin. I also took some medicine in the hopes that it would fight against my... disease, but somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it was in vain. I got dressed, and didn't forget to put on my gloves and a scarf to cover up my scars. When I went to check my appearance in the mirror, I was shocked to see that there was no reflection. There was, however, condensation on the mirror due to my shower, and the tips of my fingers reached out to smudge it.

When the condensation was partly cleared, I still saw no reflection.

It was a... weird experience. Would I never see my face again? Not even my clothes had a reflection, which I thought was pretty odd.

That was when someone knocked on the bathroom door.

"Yeah?" I asked through the piece of square wood.

"It's me," answered a voice, and I recognized it as Charley's.

I opened the door to let him in, and I expected him to freak out due to me not having a reflection, but he didn't notice at all.

"Ed's downstairs," my cousin informed me, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Alright..." I trailed off quietly, and then put my hand against the mirror with a small smile, trying to inject some humor, _any_ humor, into our situation, "notice anything?"

Charley stared at my hand against the mirror and shrugged his shoulders and looked away.

The humor got flushed down the toilet, however, when he said nothing.

"Are you okay?" I questioned, looking at him in concern and then took my gloved hand from the glass.

"I don't know..." he sounded confused, "it's just Doris... I mean, she's dead... you..."

_You killed her_, is what he probably wanted to say. What was I supposed to say to that? For all I knew, my cousin blamed me for her death, even if he realized, or didn't realize, that I hadn't been in control of myself.

"Do you want to talk?" I offered lamely, feeling guilty.

"No, no..." he sighed tiredly, "just be safe when you're at the show, alright?"

"Yeah..." I agreed half-heartedly.

We both went downstairs, and I saw Ed sitting on the couch, waiting patiently.

"You ready?" my friend asked as he stood from the couch, to which I nodded my head.

As I moved closer to him, he gave me a weird look.

"Wait," he stated as he backed away from me with his hands raised, "are you sick or something? You look like crap."

"Not supposed to tell girls that, Ed," I informed him with a little smile, "but yeah, I am. Only... a little bit..."

"Well, try not to touch me or breathe on me," he told me, "I get sick easily. It's a fucking bitch."

"I dunno, Ed," I continued to smile, and my hand reached out to grab him, "it's hard to resist someone as beautiful as you."

"Yeah, whatever," he gave a small grin and brushed my hand away, "but seriously. Don't get me sick. I'll be pissed as shit."

Ten minutes later we were on the highway heading to Las Vegas to go see the show and interrogate Peter Vincent. The ride up was uneventful for the most part, but we suspected there were a few drunk teenagers driving because it was summer and it was getting to be pretty late. I was thankful that the sun had already set by the time I stepped out of the house; I feared that I would go up in flames the moment light touched my skin.

An hour later, we were pulling into the parking lot that was beside the building the show was in. We got to park for free when we flashed our tickets to the guards that were monitoring who came and went. The inside of the building was normal looking, giving no indication of the supposed vampire slayer that inhabited the place. To the side was a map to the building, and with raised eyebrows I noticed there was a nightclub on the second floor. On the third floor was the stage, and the seats extended up to the fourth floor. The fifth floor was actually a restaurant, and the sixth floor, which the map stated was off limits without permission and a key to the elevator, was Peter Vincent's living area.

There were also stairs that led up to all the floors, including the sixth floor, but I had to assume that was also locked.

There was a line that led to the front desk, so Ed and I waited at the back of it. We couldn't do anything else but patiently wait for our turn. That came twenty-seven minutes later; nine minutes before the actual show started. After our tickets were confirmed, we took the elevator up with some other people to the third floor.

My mouth almost dropped open when I saw the large amount of people walking around and already sitting. How were we going to get any good seats? I guess that's what happens when you show up ten minutes before something happens. The early bird gets the worm, after all.

"Don't worry," Ed said to me as if sensing my thoughts, "the seats are arranged, so no one can take our spot."

"Where is our spot?" I questioned just as shivers began to attack my skin again.

I saw someone walk by with fake vampire fangs in their mouth with blood dripping down their chin. I averted my eyes and mentally begged the vampire inside me not to freak out.

"We have seats in the twelfth row," my friend answered, and I felt both disappointed and relieved; disappointed because I wanted to be closer, but relieved because I was part vampire and the man hosting the show was a supposed vampire killer. I didn't want him to recognize me and stab me through the heart or something.

"Oh," I said weakly, my disappointment showing.

"Just kidding," Ed gave a mean laugh and patted me on the back, "we're in the front row."

Holy shi- _front row?!_

Happiness slapped me in the face and panic punched my gut. I felt nauseated from both.

We pushed our way through the crowded isles, and my stress increased as I walked closer to the stage. When we finally made it to our seats, I discovered we were a mere ten feet from the platform.

We sat down, and when the lights went out and we were left in complete darkness, I felt my anxiety rise. This wasn't helping the shivering and sweating that had been subdued, and now they were back with a vengeance. Ed must have mistaken my shivering for excitement because he gave me a large grin instead of asking if I was alright.

"Welcome... to Peter Vincent's _Fright Night_," came the introduction, the same one from the show on television.

There was an explosion of fire that made everyone in the audience jump, myself and Ed included. I quickly asked Ed why there was both a theatre act and a show, but he shrugged his shoulders. He answered that the theatre act was like season one, but squeezed together in only a few hours. The first season only had werewolves in it, and vampires weren't introduced until the second season, so I felt some of my anxiety decrease.

Then Ed destroyed any and all relief I was feeling.

"I know that the first season is all werewolves, but they might add vampires in because it's the theatre act," my friend informed me quietly.

Someone in the row behind us gave a harsh '_shh!_' and we closed our mouths shut.

It was three hours long, and it was both an amazing and terrifying experience. I could tell the vampires were fake, which was a given, considering the show wasn't reality, but I could hear their hearts beating, and their blood pumping through their veins. I could actually hear everyone's hearts and blood, if I focused. Eventually the show ended and that was when Ed and I made our move.

As everyone else in the audience was filing out the doors, we snuck past a few security guards and spotted the man we were looking for just before he stepped onto a private elevator.

"Mr. Vincent, wait!" Ed called out loudly, and the man turned. Upon seeing us, an annoyed look formed on his face.

"What?" Peter Vincent sighed, "want an autograph or something?"

"No, we just wanted to talk a-" Ed was cut off.

"Look, I'm sorry, I don't have the time to deal with this, have a nice night," the man's tone was blunt and he stepped into the elevator, but before the doors closed, Ed stuck his arm in to prevent them from shutting.

"What is your _problem_?" the man growled out, his voice more irritated than before.

"I'm sorry, but my friend-" Ed motioned towards me "-only has two months to live, and she wanted to talk with her favorite actor before she, well..."

I threw a look at my friend. Was he honestly playing that card? I thinned my lips momentarily in disbelief.

"It's true, Mr. Vincent," I commented, backing Ed up with his story. I gave a weak smile, trying to appear sick, though I didn't really have to pretend. "But if it's too much trouble, we can just leav-"

"No, no, you've already made me feel guilty," Peter Vincent sighed, and then impatiently motioned with his hands for us to get in the elevator, "come on."

We thanked him and stepped inside the elevator, and the time spent going up was quiet, and very awkward. When the doors opened, we followed behind the man and into what seemed like a museum. There were a bunch of different things in glass containers set out for display, and I had to pull on Ed's sleeves whenever he would stop and stare at something inside the glass. The man led us to a desk, which he sat on, while Ed and I took our spots in two seats placed before the piece of wood.

"So," he said, and poured himself a drink. He offered drinks to both of us, but we both shook our heads no. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Vampires," Ed responded, and though Peter Vincent didn't show it, I could imagine him mentally rolling his eyes and thinking: _of course_.

My friend continued to speak, "are they real?"

I knew they were real, Ed knew they were real, but the famous vampire hunter's reputation relied on this question. If he answered no, we would leave without another word. No need to talk to someone about vampires who thought they were fake.

"Yes," the man answered slowly, looking at both of us with an odd expression on his face. His gaze lingered on me a little longer, and I honestly hoped it was just from the fact that I was a young woman, and not a vampire.

"How do you kill them?" I asked, going with a rather basic question.

"Well, a stake, or sunlight..." the man stated, "alot of people assume they can be killed a number of ways, but it's really only a few that truly work."

"What do you mean?" Ed voiced, and pushed his glasses up when they slipped down the bridge of his nose.

"Some idiots think vampires can be killed with garlic. It's only food, the hell's it supposed to do against some undead guy?" Peter Vincent snorted in amusement, and took a sip from his drink.

I paused a moment before asking another question, "what do you know about half-vampires?"

"Half-vampires?" Ed repeated after me, throwing a confused look my way. If Charley were there, he would know why I was asking, but Ed had no idea of my current status as a half-vampire, and possibly even full vampire at that point.

The famous vampire-slayer answered the question nonetheless, "half-vampires are people who are in the process of becoming a vampire-" here, the man reached up towards his face and pulled off his goatee while Ed and I stared at him in surprise "-weaker than full vampires, stronger than humans-" next came the mustache "-they have a hard time controlling their urges. They are affected by their vampire weaknesses, but not as much as a whole vampire would be. Say, if you have a vampire walk out in the sunlight, he'd burn to a crisp. Half-vampires, on the other hand, might get sunburned easily, or get rashes."

The man continued to talk, taking out some of his facial piercings, "hell, sometimes half-vampires don't even know they're turning."

"How-" Ed started to speak, but I interrupted him.

"Is it possible for vampires to become human again?"

Peter Vincent stopped what he was doing to stare at me.

"The hell's with all these serious questions?" the man began slowly, "I thought I'd be getting... teenager questions."

"Just answer the question," I snapped at the man, feeling myself becoming a little frustrated. I only realized my tone a moment later, and I offered a half-assed, "sorry," to apologize.

"We did tell you earlier we wanted to talk about vampires," Ed piped up, offering me some support.

"I guess you did," Peter Vincent replied, though his words were considerably less friendly than before. Thankfully, he answered my question after taking another sip of his liquor. "The only way for a vampire to turn back into a human is to stake the vampire that turned the human-wannabe vampire."

I felt my heart, if it was still beating by that point, leap in happiness. Is was that easy? Just stake Jerry in the heart, and I would be human again?

All positive emotions that I was feeling at that moment were shredded to pieces by the vampire-slayer's next sentence:

"It can't just be any stake though, it needs to be the stake that was blessed by Saint Michael."

"Let me guess," I muttered angrily, "it's been missing for the last six centuries?"

"Don't be stupid, Saint Michael wasn't even alive six hundred years ago," was the reply I got, and I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from... what?

I was becoming increasingly angry, and I found this to be very alarming.

My friend spoke up, most likely seeing my irritation, "where is it, Saint Michael's stake?"

"Here," Peter Vicent said simply, and finally took off his long haired wig, "with the rest of my collection."

"Can we... borrow it, maybe...?" I asked, and tightened my fists.

"Are you bloody serious?!" the vampire-slayer tossed me a look as a heavily irritated sigh escaped his mouth, "alright, time for you to leave. Out you go!"

The man set his feet down on the floor and removed himself from the top of the desk. As he began to walk past the chairs where Ed and I were sitting, I rose from my seat and quickly threw my arm out to prevent Peter Vincent from walking any further.

"I have a fucking vampire living next door to me," I hissed out threateningly, "I. Want. That. _Stake_."

Dark realization crossed over the man's face just as Ed stuttered out, "V-Vanessa, your eyes...?"

"What _about_ my eyes, Ed?" I muttered, tossing my friend an irritated look.

"Your eyes... they're black...?"

**000**

**A/N: I think this was the first chapter without any Jerry? I also changed a few facts about killing vampires that differ from the movie. **

**OH YEAH. I read another Fright Night story that was made like a year before mine where the OC was given blood to them in some kind of drink by Jerry and began changing or something. I was like, "shit. I hope they don't think I copied." I got the idea from Lost Boys. c:**

**Also, don't expect more chapters to be this long, that's just the way it played out this time around.**


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